TENNIS  FOR  WOMEN 


MISS  MOLLA  BJURSTEDT 


TENNIS  FOR  WOMEN 


MOLLA  BJURSTEDT 

National,  Indoor,  Clay  Court,  Metropolitan,  and  Middle 
States  Woman  Champion,  1915 

AND 

SAMUEL  CROWTHER 


Illustrated  from  photographs 


GARDEN  CITY  NEW  YORK 

DOUBLEDAY,  PAGE  &  COMPANY 

1916 


Copyright,  1916,  by 

DOUBLEDAY,    PAGE   &   COMPANY 

All  rights  reserved,  including  that  of 

translation  into  foreign  languages, 

including  the  Scandinavian 


FOREWORD 

This  little  book  does  not  pretend  to  be  a  scientific 
treatise  on  the  game  of  tennis.  It  presents  my  ideas 
of  the  game  particularly  as  it  should  be  played  by 
women.  Many  excellent  players  will  undoubtedly 
agree  with  me  and  many  other  equally  excellent  play- 
ers will  undoubtedly  disagree  with  me.  I  do  not  con- 
ceitedly claim  that  I  am  always  right  nor  will  I  con- 
cede for  a  moment  that  I  am  always  wrong.  I  merely 
sketch  the  game  as  I  know  it. 

MOLLA    BjURSTEDT. 


357404 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

FOREWORD v 

I.     THE  WOMAN'S  GAME 3 

II.    TAKING  UP  TENNIS 19 

III.  THE     STROKES     THAT     WIN — THE 

DRIVES 32 

IV.  ACES  OR  DOUBLE  FAULTS — THE  SER- 

VICE         49 

V.     THE  VOLLEY  AND  THE  LOB    ...  65 

VI .     PUTTING  A  TWIST  ON  THE  BALL  .     .  80 

VII.     PLAYING  THE  GAME — SINGLES      .     .  92 

VI 1 1 .     PLAYING  THE  GAME — MIXED  DOUBLES 

AND  WOMEN'S  DOUBLES   '    .     .  112 

IX.    AT  THE  TOP  OF  ONE'S  GAME      .     .  124 

X.    THE  TEST  OF  THE  TOURNAMENTS     .  142 

XI.     WHAT  NOT  TO  WEAR 151 

XII.     THE  PRACTICE  THAT  HELPS  .     .     .  155 

XIII.     MOSTLY  PERSONAL 164 


vii 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Miss  MOLLA  BJURSTEDT   .     .     .     .     Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  FOREHAND  DRIVE  .  8 

THE  GRIP  FOR  THE  FOREHAND  DRIVE     .     .  22 

THE  FINISH  OF  THE  FOREHAND  DRIVE    .     .  34 

FINISH  OF  THE  FOREHAND  DRIVE  ....  42 

THE  SERVICE  OF  MRS.  GEORGE  W.  WIGHTMAN  52 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  SERVICE  ....  58 

AT  THE  FINISH  OF  THE  SERVICE    ....  64 

DRIVING  A  SHORT  LOB 78 

A  Low  BACKHAND  VOLLEY  IN  MID  COURT  .  88 

A  FOREHAND  VOLLEY  NEAR  THE  NET     .     .  100 

SERVICE  OF  Miss  MARY  BROWNE       .     .     .  114 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  BACKHAND  DRIVE  .  130 

THE  FOLLOW  THROUGH  ON  THE  BACKHAND 

DRIVE 138 

FINISH  OF  THE  FOREHAND  DRIVE — ON  THE 

WRONG  FOOT 150 

THE  SERVICE  OF  Miss  ANN  SHEAFE  .  162 


TENNIS  FOR  WOMEN 


TENNIS  FOR  WOMEN 

* 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  WOMAN'S  GAME 

9  I  1AKE  the  net  as  soon  as  you  can — and  don't 
let  her  pass  you."  I  heard  this  instruction 
given  to  a  young  girl  by  a  man  ranking  in 
the  first  ten.  The  girl  took  the  advice  eagerly — as 
though  it  were  new  and  unusual.  A  few  weeks 
later  I  saw  her  playing;  she  was  faithfully  following 
the  principle  in  so  far  as  reaching  the  net  was  con- 
cerned but  she  was  being  passed  at  will.  Her  op- 
ponent, who  had  not  nearly  so  much  tennis  ability, 
was  winning  rather  easily. 

The  admonition  to  play  the  volley  game  is  perfectly 

sound;  the  style  is  most  effective — if  you  can  play  it. 

I  have  never  known  a  girl  or  a  woman  who  could 

play  a  net  game  in  singles  through  three  hard  sets— 

[3] 


TEN Ml 6      FOR     WOMEN 

who  could  reach  the  net,  volley  consistently,  and 
keep  the  pace.  And  yet  I  do  not  know  how  many 
thousands  are  trying  to  progress  in  this  style  of 
game  under  the  impression  that  first-class  tennis  is 
not  to  be  achieved  without  imitating  Mr.  Maurice 
McLoughlin.  Mr.  McLoughlin,  at  his  best,  is  a 
marvellous  player;  he  can  do  things  which  an  ordi- 
nary human  is  foolish  to  attempt.  And  he  must  be 
in  the  most  splendid  physical  and  mental  condition 
to  play  his  own  peculiar  game.  No  other  man  has 
ever  yet  been  able  to  put  over  a  railroad  serve,  follow 
up  to  the  net,  and  play  the  ball  almost  continuously 
in  the  air;  it  demands  more  energy  and  endurance 
than  even  the  trained  man  possesses.  Mr.  John- 
ston, the  present  champion,  and  Mr.  Williams,  the 
1914  champion,  have  flashes  of  the  McLoughlin 
game,  but  they  find  hard  driving  more  economical  of 
effort  and  just  as  effective  in  point  getting. 

If  the  men  in  the  first  flight  cannot  play  the  hard 
serving,  smashing  game,  how  foolish  it  is  for  the 
average  girl  to  experiment  with  it! 

[4] 


THE  WOMAN'S  GAME 
No  woman  has  the  strength,  the  reach,  or  the  quick- 
ness of  the  skilful  tennis  man,  and  to  play  consist- 
ently at  the  net  requires  the  ultimate  in  strength, 
reach,  and  quickness.  It  is  silly  to  take  the  net 
and  be  passed  by  the  first  return,  but  only  extraor- 
dinary speed  and  reach  will  avoid  passing,  while 
just  as  uncommon  spryness  is  needed  to  go  back 
to  the  base  line  for  the  lobs.  I  have  never  had  much 
difficulty  in  passing  an  inveterate  volleyer  or  in  forc- 
ing her  back  by  hard  drives,  and  while  she  is  ex- 
hausting herself,  I  am  consuming  comparatively  little 
energy. 

The  best  volleyer  that  I  have  seen  among  women 
is  Mrs.  George  W.Wightman  (Miss  Hazel  Hotchkiss). 
She  is  deadly  at  the  net;  she  is  the  best  partner  to 
be  found  among  all  the  women  for  mixed  doubles 
because  there  she  can  show  her  volley  skill;  but  she 
cannot  often  keep  up  the  pace  of  her  game  through 
three  sets  of  singles.  I  have  played  against  her 
many  times  and  she  always  leads  me  until  the  effort 
of  her  game  begins  to  wear  her  down.  I  am  con- 

[5] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  EN 
siderably  stronger  than  most  women,  but  I  could  not 
play  the  man's  game. 

I  think  it  best  for  a  woman  to  realize  that  she  is 
a  woman  and  to  adopt  a  style  of  tennis  play  which 
will  call  for  all  the  generalship  and  strength  which 
she  can  claim — but  not  for  more. 

Any  girl  will  find  her  best  tennis  by  concentrating 
on  the  drives  rather  than  on  the  service  and  by  mak- 
ing use  of  the  volley  only  when  circumstances  prom- 
ise an  ace. 

Accuracy  and  speed  from  the  base  line  make  up 
the  game  of  tennis  for  women.  It  is  not  a  spectac- 
ular style,  but  it  wins.  I  do  not  for  a  moment  ad- 
vocate pat  ball  and  I  do  not  consider  it  enough 
merely  to  make  a  return.  I  have  nothing  of  gentle- 
ness in  my  own  game,  but  I  do  not  attempt  the  im- 
possible— and  I  hold  the  net  game  for  women  ap- 
proaches the  impossible. 

The  base-line  game  is  almost  universal  abroad, 
although  English  women  volley  much  more  than  is 
generally  supposed.    The  average  of  play  abroad, 
[6] 


THE    WOMAN'S    GAME 

taking  the  whole  tournament  season,  is  somewhat 
higher  than  in  the  United  States.  I  think  this 
is  because  the  women  in  England,  Germany,  and 
France  give  vastly  more  attention  to  their  form  in 
driving.  American  women  waste  so  much  time  in  a 
vain  attempt  to  learn  to  volley  that  they  neglect 
the  foundation  of  their  game. 

I  have  yet  to  know  a  first-class  volleyer  among 
women  who  has  consistently  won  from  a  hard-hitting 
base-line  player.  Mrs.  Bundy  (Miss  May  Sutton) 
is  a  hard  and  accurate  driver;  it  was  her  driving  that 
brought  her  the  English  championship,  although  she 
plays  extremely  well  overhead  when  such  play  is 
needed.  She  drove  so  well  that  some  of  the  English 
women  thought  they  could  break  up  her  game  if  only 
they  could  dislodge  her  from  the  command  of  the 
drive.  In  the  championship  singles  of  1905  Mrs. 
Larcombe  (then  Miss  E.  W.  Thompson)  planned 
to  win  from  Miss  Sutton  with  a  volley  game.  She 
lured  Miss  Sutton  to  the  net  by  a  short,  drop  drive 
and  then  lobbed  the  return  high  to  the  base  line; 

[7] 


TENNIS     FOR      WOM  EN 

this  gave  her  the  chance  to  reach  the  net,  where  she 
caught  Miss  Button's  return  of  the  lob  with  a  sharp 
cross-court  volley  for  the  ace.  Miss  Thompson  won 
five  out  of  the  first  seven  games  by  these  [tactics, 
but  she  ran  herself  off  her  feet  in  the  winning;  she 
became  feebler  and  feebler,  while  Miss  Sutton  was 
as  fresh  and  strong  as  at  the  beginning.  Having 
worn  herself  out,  Miss  Thompson  lost  all  control  and 
Miss  Sutton  ran  out  that  set  and  then  took  the 
second  set  and  the  match  without  the  least  trouble. 
Possibly  Miss  Thompson  might  have  won  had  she 
been  able  to  keep  up  her  starting  pace — but  she 
went  the  way  of  all  women  volleyers.  I  am  fairly 
certain  that,  some  day,  a  girl  will  burst  out  with  the 
ability  to  play  the  fast  game  through  the  course  of 
two  tournament  sets;  that  girl  will  be,  beyond  ques- 
tion, a  champion.  But  there  is  no  sight  of  her  as  yet. 

Closely  pressing  the  desire  to  play  the  net  game  is 
the  yearning  after  a  service  which  will  always  score 
aces. 

Many  girls  have  the  notion  that  tennis  is  a  one- 
[8] 


Photograph  by  Paul  Thompson 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  FOREHAND  DRIVE 
Miss  Molla  Bjurstedt 


THE  WOMAN'S  GAME 
stroke  game.  They  act  as  though  the  game  started 
and  stopped  with  the  delivery  of  a  non-returnable 
service  ball.  Of  course  a  non-returnable  service 
would  be  a  distinctly  worth-while  acquisition  for  any 
player — man  or  woman;  the  super-girl,  of  whom  I 
have  just  spoken,  might  attain  such  a  service  and 
score  aces  as  she  pleased,  but  I  have  yet  to  meet  the 
unreturnable  service. 

The  service  is  merely  the  stroke  which  puts  the 
ball  into  play;  it  may  be  made  with  more  speed  and 
precision  than  the  subsequent  strokes  of  the  game, 
because  it  is  executed  at  leisure,  but  it  is  not  the 
game  itself,  and  undue  attention  to  the  service  will 
not  only  exhaust  a  player  but  is  also  apt  to  result  in 
a  slacking  of  the  play  after  the  service. 

Rather  than  work  for  a  non-returnable  service, 
one  had  better  cultivate  an  accurate  service  of  fair 
speed  that  does  not  require  too  much  strength.  Save 
your  strength  for  the  drives,  because  no  matter  how 
hard  you  may  serve,  a  first-class  player  will  nearly 
always  find  a  way  to  return;  the  service  aces  are  not 

[9] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  EN 
numerous  enough  to  warrant  the  effort  in  trying  for 
them,  while  the  attempt  to  score  on  the  service  may 
easily  gain  as  many  double  faults  as  aces. 

The  ranking  women  players  are  not  the  players 
with  the  swiftest  services.  I  have  never  been  able 
to  develop  more  than  fair  speed  and  accuracy  on 
the  service;  Mrs.  Bundy  has  almost  as  bad  a  service 
as  I  have;  Mrs.  Wightman  has  little  speed  but  ex- 
cellent placement. 

A  few  girls  try  to  learn  the  fast  twisting  services 
which  some  male  players  use — the  reverse  twist  for 
instance — but  when  they  do  develop  that  service, 
they  seldom  have  another  stroke  at  command,  and 
they  will  beat  themselves  if  you  give  them  half  a 
chance;  if  they  serve  a  very  fast  first  ball,  they  will 
either  have  a  slow  and  easily  killed  second  ball  or 
they  will  put  over  the  second  ball  at  the  pace  of  the 
first  and  therefore  make  frequent  double  faults. 
Bothering  with  the  complex  services  is  not  worth 
while,  the  effort  of  the  delivery  is  too  exhausting. 

The  point  which  I  wish  to  make  is  this :  a  woman 
[10] 


THE  WOMAN'S  GAME 
has  physical  limitations — she  is  not  so  strong  or  so 
enduring  as  a  man  and  she  must  acknowledge  these 
limitations  when  playing  tennis.  She  can  play  a 
certain  sort  of  game  very  well  indeed  while  another 
sort  of  game  is  quite  beyond  her.  By  mixing  the 
two  extremes  she  will  have  a  game  which  is  neither 
one  thing  nor  the  other,  but  by  developing  along  the 
right  lines  she  will  attain  a  technique  that  makes  for 
good  tennis.  The  woman's  game  emphasizes  hard 
drives  and  accuracy  and  minimizes  the  plays,  such  as 
the  volley  and  the  twisting  services,  which  make  huge 
drafts  on  energy. 

I  believe  in  accuracy  and  speed.  Both  are 
the  results  of  style.  Therefore  a  player  needs 
style.  Style  represents  that  method  of  executing  a 
stroke  which  has  been  found  to  produce  the  best  re- 
sults with  the  least  possible  exertion.  With  proper 
form  the  hard  drive  does  not  represent  mere  brute 
strength  but  perfect  timing  and  the  concentration  of 
the  weight  of  the  body  on  the  ball.  Without  this  co- 
ordination one  may  hit  at  the  ball  very  hard  indeed 

in.] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

without  making  a  really  fast  drive.  Every  person 
will  not  find  the  same  style  comfortable,  but  it  is  very 
rare  that  a  grotesque  style  gives  results.  Some 
players  win  in  spite  of  their  style,  but  it  will  usually  be 
found  that  these  players  have  picked  up  faults  in  the 
beginning  which  they  have  not  been  able  to  overcome 
and  therefore  their  ultimate  playing  style  is  only  the 
result  of  a  bad  start. 

When  you  have  gross  faults  of  style  it  is  well  to  try 
out  thoroughly  with  a  good  professional  or  a  skilled 
player.  If,  after  exhaustive  experiment,  you  find  that 
better  style  does  not  improve  your  game,  then  you 
may  let  well  enough  alone.  But  only  one  player  in 
every  thousand  will  do  well  to  stay  with  a  funda- 
mentally bad  style.  It  is  far  better  to  begin  tennis  all 
over  again  and  spend  two  or  three  years  in  thoroughly 
reforming  your  bad  habits. 

Some  few  elements  must  be  common  to  every 
style  which  is  worthy  the  name;  without  these  ele- 
ments the  style  is  so  bad  that  persistency  is  foolish. 
Among  these  elements  are  the  (i)  foot  work  and  its 

[12] 


THE  WOMAN  S  GAME 
close  associate,  (2)  body  momentum,  and  (3)  the 
swing  and  the  follow  through.  Unless  the  feet  are 
well  managed,  a  player  will  not  reach  the  ball  in  proper 
position  for  the  stroke,  and,  if  she  is  not  in  proper  po- 
sition, she  will  not  add  weight  to  the  swing  of  the 
racquet;  even  the  strongest  arm  will  not  put  the  pace 
on  a  ball  that  is  given,  almost  without  effort,  by  a 
slight  concentration  of  the  force  of  the  body  at  ex- 
actly the  right  moment.  I  am  not  enough  of  a  scien- 
tist to  know  why  following  through  helps  speed  and 
control  so  much — because  it  starts  after  the  ball  has 
left  the  racquet.  I  am  told  that  the  follow  through  is 
valuable  because  it  forces  one  to  start  the  stroke  well 
before  the  impact  with  the  ball  and  thus  insures  a 
firm,  even,  forceful  swing.  Certainly  speed  and 
control  are  not  possible  without  taking  the  stroke 
through  at  least  half  a  circle.  Every  one  knows  how 
a  golf  ball  pops  off  from  a  shakily  swung  club;  a  ten- 
nis ball  acts  in  precisely  the  same  way  if  the  racquet 
be  rudely  poked  at  it.  The  full,  true  stroke  is  essen- 
tial. 

[13] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

Although  it  may  not  be  given  to  every  one  to  play 
first-class  tennis  and  many  will  not  have  ambitions 
in  that  direction,  yet  more  fun  is  to  be  had  from  the 
game  by  playing  well  rather  than  poorly.  And  any 
girl,  without  a  serious  physical  defect,  may  learn  to 
play  a  passable  game  of  tennis. 

Tennis  seldom  comes  naturally;  one  may  have  the 
strength,  the  speed,  and  the  eye  by  nature,  but  form 
is  a  question  of  hard,  painstaking  work.  The  best 
players  practise  tirelessly — they  are  playing  every 
day  through  the  open  season  and  often  play  indoors 
a  good  part  of  the  winter.  They  do  not  expect  to 
play  half  a  dozen  times  a  year  and  also  play  well.  I 
take  a  professional  every  little  while  to  help  me  out 
on  some  part  of  the  game  where  I  feel  especially 
weak. 

I  know  splendid  players  who  apparently  have  not  a 
single  natural  aptitude  toward  the  game,  but  by  in- 
telligent practice  they  have  learned  the  game  best 
suited  to  them — and  they  play  it.  Mrs  Barger- 
Wallach  is  not  strong,  but  she  has  acquired  a  tennis 


TH  E      WOMAN     S      GAME 

game  far  above  the  average.  Mr.  Johnston  is  very 
slightly  built. 

Tennis  does  not  need  brute  strength  as  much  as  co- 
ordination; coordination  is  a  matter  of  training; 
therefore  tennis  resolves  itself  into  form  and  training. 
If  one  has  strength  and  speed  in  addition  to  form  and 
coordination,  so  much  the  better  for  the  eventual 
game,  but  it  is  a  mistake  to  imagine  that  only  the 
natural  athlete  can  profitably  take  up  tennis. 

There  is  no  tennis  age;  the  limit  is  mental.  I  have 
partnered  with  the  Crown  Prince  of  Sweden  against 
the  King  and  my  sister.  Of  the  two  men,  the  King 
is  the  better  player.  In  Germany  the  Countess 
of  Schulenberg  enters  tournaments  at  scratch;  her 
daughter,  in  the  twenties,  has  a  handicap.  I  know  a 
dozen  women  over  fifty  who  will  give  any  one  a  stiff 
game;  and  I  also  know  girls  of  fifteen  and  sixteen  who 
are  masters  of  every  stroke.  I  should  hardly  advise 
the  very  young  girls  or  the  women  past  fifty  to  enter 
the  first-class  tournaments,  because  the  nervous  strain 
of  playing  through  is  considerable;  but  tournament 

[15] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

play  engages  only  a  small  number  of  players  and  is 
not  to  be  considered  the  end  of  tennis.  The  real  ob- 
ject of  tennis — the  object  of  any  sport — is  to  gain 
health  and  have  a  good  time. 

I  think  any  girl  or  woman  will  be  helped  by  play- 
ing tennis. 

Strength,  quickness,  grace,  agility,  and  general 
good  health  are  the  rewards. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  imagine  that  a  woman  should 
have  only  gentle,  lazy  exercise.  A  normal  woman 
needs  an  outdoor  sport  which  will  stir  her  blood  and 
her  brain. 

Droning  through  a  set  of  motions  is  a  mere  waste 
of  time. 

Tennis  has  every  element  of  the  perfect  exercise  for 
women.  There  is  no  bodily  contact  and  hence  no 
danger  of  injury,  but  there  is  the  strongest  kind  of 
competition.  The  fighting  spirit  is  developed,  and 
I  think  a  girl  ought  to  have  as  much  pluck  and  fight- 
ing spirit  as  a  man.  It  helps  in  everything  to  be 
able  to  clench  the  teeth  and  say,  "  I  am  going  to  win/' 
[16] 


THE      WOMAN     S      GAME 

And  then  tennis  keeps  the  player  in  the  open  air 
amid  the  most  healthful  surroundings;  you  have  to 
move  quickly,  your  hand  and  your  foot  must  obey 
your  mind,  and  you  are  forced  to  forget  poses  and  all 
that  unnatural  sort  of  thing.  A  girl  is  the  better  for 
knowing  she  is  alive. 

Tennis  is  not  too  violent.  A  weak  woman  may 
adapt  her  game  to  the  limits  of  her  physique;  she 
will  play  a  gentle  game  until  more  strength  per- 
mits her  to  play  harder  and  faster.  I  have  played 
twelve  hard  sets  in  a  single  afternoon  and  then 
danced  all  the  evening  without  finding  myself 
harmed.  Of  course  this  would  be  too  much  for  an 
unseasoned  player — but  then  an  unseasoned  player 
could  not  keep  on  her  feet  so  long. 

Tennis  is  not  for  the  girl  who  wants  a  milk- 
white  face  covered  with  paint  and  powder;  if  that 
is  the  ideal  of  feminine  beauty,  tennis  and  every 
other  outdoor  game  must  be  avoided.  But  I  think 
a  coat  of  tan  and  a  freckle  or  two  are  normal.  I 
have  no  patience  with  the  languishing,  made-up 

[17] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

beauty;  she  is  not  much  more  human  than  a  dress- 
maker's dummy. 

Play  tennis  if  you  wish  a  lithe,  slim  figure,  a  clear, 
healthy  complexion,  and  a  coordinated  body  and 
brain. 

The  points  in  the  woman's  game  are: 

1 .  Accuracy  in  placement. 

2.  The  development  of  ihe  driving,  base-line  game  as 
opposed  to  the  net  game. 

3.  The  accuracy  and  not  ihe  speed  of  the  service. 

4.  The  conservation  of  energy. 

5.  The  grounding  of  the  knowledge  that  a  stroke  is 
not  well  played  unless  the  ball  goes  to  the  intended  spot. 

6.  As  much  speed  as  is  consistent  with  accuracy. 


[18] 


CHAPTER  II 

TAKING   UP  TENNIS 

1HAVE  heard  that  one  may  learn  to  swim  by 
being  tossed  overboard  in  deep  water;  possibly 
this  is  true,  but  I  doubt  if  the  stroke,  thus  franti- 
cally found,  is  the  best  stroke.  One  may  also  learn 
to  play  tennis  by  being  shoved  on  to  a  court  with  a 
racquet  and  told  to  play;  most  people  start  in  some 
such  way.  I  did — and  it  took  me  some  years  to  get 
rid  of  the  faults  which  I  at  once  fell  into.  I  dis- 
covered purely  individual  ways  of  hitting  the  ball; 
they  had  the  merit  of  originality.  One  needs  pre- 
cious little  originality  in  tennis. 

It  saves  an  infinite  amount  of  time  to  start  right; 
the  tennis  genius  may  evolve  a  creditable  game  on  her 
own  account,  but  I  am  sure  she  would  play  a  better 
game  if  she  had  first  mastered  fundamental  play  and 

[19] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  EN 

then  put  the  genius  play  on  the  top  of  that.  The  be- 
ginner always  executes  a  stroke  in  the  least  effective 
but  most  strength-absorbing  way.  When  I  began, 
my  only  idea  was  to  hit  the  ball  with  all  my  might.  I 
liked  the  game  because  it  gave  me  a  rare  chance  to  hit 
something  without  being  reprimanded.  Sometimes 
the  ball  went  into  the  net,  more  often  it  sailed  yards 
away.  I  was  tamed  by  my  fellow  players  who  in- 
sisted that  I  give  some  attention  to  the  court  lines. 

Finally — after  perhaps  three  months — I  had  a 
professional  teacher  and  started  to  learn  to  play 
tennis  instead  of  the  exhilarating  game  which  I  had 
founded.  And  it  was  ever  so  hard  to  give  up  the  en- 
tirety of  my  own  ideas. 

Have  your  own  racquet  from  the  very  beginning; 
find  one  that  exactly  suits  you  in  weight,  balance,  and 
grip.  It  pays  to  buy  the  best  in  racquets.  I  like  the 
very  tightly  strung,  fine  gut — the  fine  gut  gives  more 
elasticity  to  the  stroke,  although  it  is  not  so  economi- 
cal as  the  heavier  stringing.  I  used  thirteen  new 
racquets  during  the  1915  season  and  had  five  re- 

[20] 


TAKING      UP      TENNIS 

strung,  but  then  I  played  all  the  time  and  often  in 
soggy  weather.  I  keep  four  racquets  with  me  when  I 
play. 

The  shape  of  the  head  is  a  matter  of  individual 
taste,  and  any  of  the  better  makes  have  well-formed 
faces. 

When  your  racquet  is  not  in  use,  keep  it  in  a  press. 
The  frame  must  always  be  true,  else  the  face  of  the 
racquet  will  have  odd  angles  and  the  ball  will  fly  off 
in  all  sorts  of  queer  directions. 

I  use  a  i3|-ounce  racquet,  which  is  heavy  in  the 
head  and  feels  like  a  i/j-J-ounce  one;  I  like  the  heavy 
head  because  it  seems  to  give  me  greater  power  in  my 
drives.  I  play  a  purely  driving  game;  my  arm  is 
strong  and  I  can  handle  the  extra  weight.  Most 
players  prefer  an  evenly  balanced  racquet,  and  prob- 
ably such  is  best  for  the  beginner;  one  can  afterward 
experiment  a  little  on  weights.  Very  few  girls  will  do 
well  to  take  a  racquet  heavier  than  13!  ounces;  Mrs. 
Bundy,  Mrs.  Wightman,  Miss  Mary  Browne,  in  fact 
all  the  best  American  women,  use  that  weight ;  a  few  of 

[21] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  EN 

the  English  women  go  in  for  14  ounces,  but  I  think 
that  is  too  heavy.  A  heavy  racquet  will  quickly  tire 
the  forearm  and  slow  up  the  play.  Unless  one  is  really 
very  weak  and  slight,  1 3  ounces  is  a  minimum  weight. 

The  size  of  the  grip  is  very  important;  you  can 
never  learn  to  play  unless  you  have  an  entirely  com- 
fortable handle.  I  use  a  rather  small  handle — 5! 
inches  in  circumference — because  I  want  my  whole 
hand  about  the  grip,  but  $J  inches  is  the  usual  size. 
Most  dealers  will  find  you  a  racquet  to  suit  if  you  are 
persistent. 

A  firm  grip  cannot  be  had  unless  the  handle  is  dry 
during  play;  if  your  hands  perspire  it  is  well  to  wind 
the  handle  with  tape.  I  am  luckily  not  bothered  in 
that  way. 

Several  ways  of  holding  the  racquet  are  in  vogue;  I 
think  the  " American "  way  is  the  best.  It  is  as 
follows : 

Grasp  the  racquet  at  the  very  end,  resting  the  butt 
against  the  base  of  the  palm;  many  girls  simply 
"grab"  the  handle  about  halfway  up;  they  wonder 
[22] 


THE  GRIP  FOR  THE  FOREHAND  DRIVE 
Miss  Molla  Bjurstedt 


TAKING      UP      TENNIS 

why  they  cannot  control  the  ball.  To  get  the  proper 
leverage  and  freedom  it  is  necessary  to  take  the 
racquet  at  the  very  end.  This  grip  may  seem  in- 
secure at  first,  but  you  will  soon  become  accustomed 
to  it. 

I  use  two  grips:  the  first  for  forehand  strokes  and 
the  second  for  backhand  strokes.  In  the  first  grip 
the  hand  is  simply  closed  around  the  handle  with  the 
thumb  across.  This  is  the  grip  which  is  used  for  all 
strokes  excepting  those  on  the  backhand.  The  back- 
hand stroke  requires  a  firmer  grip,  and  therefore  the 
thumb  is  moved  out  parallel  with  and  pressing 
against  the  handle.  The  shift  is  an  easy  one  and  is 
made,  almost  unconsciously,  as  the  racquet  swings 
over  for  the  backhand  play.  This  is,  I  think,  the 
easiest  and  the  most  natural  grip;  one  strikes  almost 
as  though  with  the  palm  of  the  hand  on  the  forehand 
strokes,  while  the  thumb  up  the  handle  gives  a 
definite  firmness,  without  undue  strain  on  the  wrist, 
in  the  backhand  strokes.  Some  players  shift  their 
grip  slightly  for  the  backhand,  but  I  think  this  is  un- 

[23] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

necessary.  I  believe  in  keeping  one's  game  of  tennis, 
in  so  far  as  style  is  concerned,  to  the  elementary 
principles. 

In  the  English  grip,  the  head  of  the  racquet  is 
above  the  wrist;  the  thumb  is  not  carried  up  the 
handle  for  the  backhand  strokes.  I  should  not  at- 
tempt to  enter  the  argument  pro  and  con  on  the  two 
styles.  I  like  my  own  style,  and  I  am  quite  sure  that 
any  girl  will  have  a  firmer  and  more  delicate  back- 
hand with  the  thumb  up  than  with  it  around  the 
handle. 

A  few  players  grasp  their  racquets  an  inch  or  two 
above  the  butt  of  the  handle,  notably  Mrs.  Bundy 
and  Miss  Clare  Cassell.  Norman  Brookes  also  plays 
with  this  sort  of  a  grip,  so  it  undoubtedly  has  the 
sanction  of  good  company.  But  one  needs  all  the 
reach  to  be  had,  and  shortening  the  hold  on  the  rac- 
quet only  shortens  the  reach. 

Some  players  grip  their  handles  with  the  same 
firmness  throughout  the  whole  game.  I  find  that 
this  tires  me;  I  prefer  to  relax  my  grip  between  • 

[24] 


TAKING      UP      TENNIS 

strokes  and  then  close  firmly  as  I  swing  for  the  ball. 
It  is  all  a  matter  of  choice  except  that  the  grip  must 
be  very  firm  when  the  ball  is  taken;  if  your  racquet 
turns  ever  so  little  in  your  stroke,  the  control  of  the 
ball  is  lost.  Thoroughly  understand  the  holding  of 
the  racquet  before  you  attempt  to  hit  the  ball;  it  is 
all  very  simple,  but  an  awkward  grip  is  difficult  to 
lose  if  persisted  in  through  only  a  few  months. 

Having  learned  the  grip,  you  will  be  ready  to  take 
up  the  strokes  of  tennis.  It  will  be  tiresome  to  go 
along  methodically  when  it  seems  so  easy  simply  to 
plunge  into  a  game,  but  you  cannot  hope  ever  to  play 
an  acceptable  game — a  game  which  will  give  you  even 
a  decent  amount  of  fun — unless  you  learn  to  handle 
yourself  and  your  racquet.  No  one  thinks  of  going 
into  golf  without  instruction,  but  people  imagine  that 
tennis  is  inherent  in  them;  correct  tennis  is  inherent 
in  no  one — the  correct  swing  and  follow  through  of 
tennis  is  every  whit  as  hard  to  acquire  as  the  correct 
swing  and  follow  through  in  golf. 

If  a  good  professional  tennis  instructor  may  be 

[25] 


TENNIS  FOR  WOMEN 
had,  by  all  means  engage  him.  But  there  are  very 
few  professionals  in  the  United  States,  and  only  a 
limited  number  of  players  can  avail  themselves  of 
their  services.  In  the  absence  of  a  professional  ask 
the  best  player  you  know  to  teach  you. 

The  teaching  should  not  be  in  an  actual  game. 
You  will  not  learn  the  strokes  of  tennis  in  a  game. 
Get  a  supply  of  balls  and  have  your  instructor  bounce 
them  gently  to  you;  hit  the  ball  as  it  rises — just  be- 
fore it  reaches  the  top  of  the  bound. 

Most  players  hit  the  ball  as  it  descends;  it  is 
easier  to  hit  it  then,  but  you  lose  a  deal  of  time  in  the 
return  and  give  your  opponent  a  chance  to  get  into 
position.  And  if  you  do  not  learn  to  take  the  ball  be- 
fore the  top  of  the  bounce  when  you  first  start  to  play 
you  will  never  learn  thereafter.  I  attribute  much  of 
my  success  in  passing  net  players  to  the  quickness  of 
my  returns;  and  the  quickness  is  due  solely  to  taking 
the  ball  before  it  has  had  time  to  descend. 

If  two  players  were  absolutely  equal  in  skill  and 
generalship,  but  the  one  hit  the  ball  before  the  top  of 

[26] 


TAKING      UP      TENNIS 

the  bound  and  the  other  after,  the  player  who  hit  the 
rising  ball  would  surely  win.  She  would  be  so  much 
faster  in  her  returns  that  she  would  be  bound  to 
win. 

Your  practice  should  teach  you  how  to  swing  your 
racquet  and  how  to  manage  your  body  and  feet. 
Once  you  have  learned  these  elements  you  are  ready 
to  have  balls  tossed  across  the  net  to  you  to  be  hit 
back  for  direction. 

Take  up  one  stroke  at  a  time;  first  learn  the  fore- 
hand drive  and  then  the  backhand  drive.  Do  not 
bother  with  the  service  until  you  have  a  very  definite 
idea  of  the  drives  and  can  execute  them  with  a  fair 
degree  of  freedom  and  accuracy. 

A  stroke  in  tennis  is  a  blending  of  the  whole  weight 
and  force  of  the  body.  The  arm  and  the  racquet  are 
merely  the  means  of  communicating  this  force  to  the 
ball.  You  do  not  hit  the  ball  with  the  strength  of  the 
arm :  in  a  well-executed  drive  you  will  not  use  much 
of  the  arm.  You  will  rather  lean  against  the  ball 
with  your  racquet.  This  stroke  involves  the  right 
[27] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

movement  of  the  feet  and  of  the  body,  as  well  as  the 
true,  firm  swing  and  follow  through  of  the  racquet. 
It  is  the  perfect  coordination  of  these  elements  rather 
than  brute  strength  which  gives  speed  to  a  tennis 
ball. 

These  elementary  principles  must  be  learned  before 
you  start  to  play  a  game.  If  you  start  into  com- 
petition too  soon,  you  will  forget  the  elements  in  the 
desire  to  win  points;  for  it  will  take  time  to  make 
correct  form  second  nature,  and  in  the  hurry  of  the 
game  you  will  try  some  slipshod  stroke  that  seems 
good  for  the  moment. 

I  cannot  too  strongly  emphasize  the  grounding  of 
the  elements.  Once  you  have  the  ideas  of  the  stroke, 
you  can  gain  much  good  practice  hitting  the  ball 
against  a  smooth  wall  or  fence.  The  late  Anthony 
Wilding  perfected  all  of  his  strokes  alone;  he  would 
work  for  hours  and  days  on  the  one  stroke,  striking 
the  ball  against  a  wall.  He  was  not  a  natural  player; 
he  acquired  his  form  and  skill  solely  through  the 
hardest  sort  of  practice. 

[28] 


TAKING      UP      TENNIS 

Another  excellent  feature  of  the  wall  practice  is 
that  it  teaches  keeping  the  eye  on  the  ball. 

Keep  your  eye  on  the  ball !  It  is  quite  as  important 
in  tennis  as  in  golf.  No  stroke  can  be  well  or  accu- 
rately made  unless  you  have  your  eye  glued  to  the 
ball  from  the  very  moment  it  leaves  the  opponent's 
racquet.  Many  players  fail  miserably  simply  because 
they  do  not  obey  this  principle.  Unless  you  have  your 
eye  on  the  ball,  you  will  misjudge  its  flight  and  be 
caught  off  balance  when  you  come  to  make  the  stroke. 

Do  not  say,  "Oh,  bother,  I'll  pick  up  all  these 
things  as  I  go  along."  You  will  not  pick  them  up 
unless  you  start  with  them  as  principles.  You  can- 
not build  a  game  without  a  foundation  any  more  than 
you  can  build  a  house  without  a  foundation.  You 
must  have  something  to  work  on. 

I  have  spoken  of  strokes  and  mentioned  several 
kinds  of  strokes,  but  I  have  not  yet  described  them. 
Strokes  are  divided  broadly  into  ground  strokes,  in 
which  the  ball  is  hit  after  it  has  bounced,  and  volley 
strokes,  where  the  ball  is  hit  before  it  has  touched  the 

[29] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

ground.  These  are  again  divided  into  forehand  and 
backhand  strokes.  The  forehand  strokes  are  those 
hit  on  the  right,  while  the  backhand  strokes  are  hit 
on  the  left  of  a  right-handed  player. 

A  "drive"  is  a  ground  stroke  hit  low  over  the  net; 
it  should  have  speed. 

A  "lob"  is  a  ground  stroke  hit  high  into  the  air  to 
bound  in  the  back  of  the  court;  it  may  also  be  made 
on  the  volley,  but  it  is  rarely  so  made. 

The  "service"  is  the  stroke  which  starts  the  ball 
into  play.  The  many  kinds  of  service  will  be  taken 
up  in  a  later  chapter. 

The  "smash"  is  a  very  hard  volley  to  "kill"  the 
ball  for  an  "  ace,"  or  unreturnable  ball. 

The  "half- volley"  is  a  pick-up  of  the  ball  as  it 
touches  the  ground  and  is  more  of  a  ground  stroke 
than  a  volley. 

The  "chop"  is  a  ball  hit  with  a  back-spin  that 
drops  almost  dead  as  it  touches  the  ground. 

The  "cut  ball"  is  a  ball  with  a  twist  which  causes 
it  to  bounce  off  at  an  angle. 

[30] 


TAKING      UP      TENNIS 

/.     Select  your  racquet  carefully. 

2.  Have  a  professional  teacher  if  you  can  possibly 
find  a  good  one. 

5.  Learn  the  swing,  body  and  foot  movement  of  the 
drive  before  you  play  a  game. 

4.  Start  right — and  you  will  have  less  to  unlearn 
later. 


[31] 


T 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    STROKES   THAT  WIN — THE    DRIVES 

HE   drives — forehand    and    backhand — are 
easily  the  most  important  strokes  in  tennis. 


You  may  learn  any  number  of  trick  plays, 
you  may  have  a  splendid  service,  but  if  you  cannot 
drive  hard  and  accurately,  you  will  never  be  a  real 
tennis  player.  For  every  ace  that  you  win  with  the 
spectacular  smash  or  the  lightning  service,  you  will 
win  a  dozen  aces  with  the  homely  drive. 

The  drive  is  the  foundation  of  the  woman's  game 
of  tennis;  you  can  be  a  first-class  player  knowing  only 
the  two  drives.  Neither  Mrs.  Bundy  nor  myself  can 
really  do  anything  but  drive.  It  is  different  with  the 
men;  the  first  flight  of  players  must  know  the  whole 
game.  It  is  enough  for  the  woman  to  drive  equally 
well  on  both  hands. 

[32] 


THE      STROKES      THAT      WIN 

Therefore  learn  to  drive!  Perhaps  I  place  too 
much  stress  on  the  drives,  but  I  think  most  players 
will  agree  with  me  that  no  adequate  woman's  game 
can  ever  be  built  up  on  a  foundation  other  than  the 
drive.  Driving  is  my  game;  I  am  quite  sure  that  at 
least  twenty  girls  in  this  country  could  beat  me  if  I 
tried  to  play  a  net  game,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  if  I 
were  forbidden  ever  to  volley,  my  game  would  not 
noticeably  lose  in  strength. 

But  driving  is  more  than  merely  getting  the  ball 
back  across  the  net:  the  true  drive  sends  the  ball 
swiftly  and  surely  to  an  exactly  predetermined  place 
in  the  court.  It  is  the  easiest  stroke  to  play  and  the 
hardest  stroke  to  play  well.  Good  driving  demands 
the  utmost  in  coordination,  for  it  demands  a  precise 
combination  of  arm,  foot,  body,  and  eye.  Hence  it 
is  that  good  drivers  are  scarce  among  both  men  and 
women.  And,  when  you  come  to  the  backhand  drive, 
you  will  find  few  women  who  are  not  weak. 

Any  one  may  be  a  good  driver  if  she  takes  the 
trouble  to  learn  the  stroke  and  then  constantly  to 

[33] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  EN 

practise  it.  Most  women  are  weak  on  their  back- 
hands because  they  will  not  practise;  they  will  run 
around  a  ball  in  order  to  take  it  on  the  forehand  in- 
stead of  steadily  using  the  backhand,  until  they  gain 
confidence. 

The  principles  of  both  drives  are  identical:  they 
are  both  made  by  facing  the  line  of  the  flight  of  the 
ball — that  is,  standing  with  one's  side  to  the  net— 
with  the  weight  of  the  body  resting  on  the  foot 
farthest  away  from  the  oncoming  ball.  Then  the 
ball  is  taken  with  a  long  sweep  of  the  racquet,  the 
body  going  forward  with  the  racquet  so  that,  at  the 
time  of  impact  with  the  ball,  the  weight  of  the  body  is 
added  to  the  force  of  the  racquet;  the  finish  finds  one 
on  the  foot  opposite  to  that  on  which  the  stroke  be- 
gan. In  all  drives  the  body  should  be  going  forward 
as  the  stroke  is  made;  a  flat-footed  drive  or  a  drive 
made  when  leaning  backward  will  lack  both  force  and 
direction.  It  is  the  coordination  of  the  body  and  the 
arm  which  gives  the  speed. 

The  ball  should  be  taken  in  the  centre  of  the  face  of 
[34] 


THE      STROKES      THAT      WIN 

the  racquet,  where  the  elasticity  is  greatest.  The 
racquet  should  be  nearly  horizontal  and  straight  out 
in  the  line  of  the  arm.  Therefore  you  will  bend  over 
to  drive  low  balls,  rather  than  scoop  them  up  with  a 
vertical  racquet. 

As  you  swing  back  your  racquet,  tighten  your  grip 
and  firmly  control  the  racquet  with  your  wrist.  The 
wrist  will  control  direction,  and  a  slight  snap  of  the 
wrist  as  the  ball  is  taken  adds  crispness  to  the  stroke. 
Only  practice  will  teach  you  just  how  much  the 
wrist  determines  the  direction  of  the  ball.  You 
should  "feel"  the  ball. 

And,  as  in  every  stroke,  keep  your  eye  on  the  ball. 
It  is  not  possible  to  hit  cleanly  unless  you  see  the  ball 
through  every  part  of  the  stroke.  When  you  see  a 
ball,  it  loses  all  mystery;  otherwise  you  will  wonder 
why  a  perfectly  planned  shot  went  off  quite  contrary 
to  the  plans.  Keeping  the  eye  on  the  ball  is  not  as 
easy  as  it  sounds;  you  are  tempted  to  look  at  your 
opponent,  and  you  will  probably  look  at  her  in  spite 
of  all  your  good  intentions,  but  certainly  in  practice 

[35] 


TENNIS       FOR      WOMEN 

you  can  devote  yourself  exclusively  to  watching  the 
ball.  If  you  do  not  watch  the  ball  in  practice  you 
will  not  watch  it  in  a  game. 

The  drive  comes  down  to  getting  the  right  position 
before  the  stroke  and  the  right  swing  in  its  execution; 
you  cannot  attain  the  true  swing  unless  you  have  the 
proper  position. 

Here  is  the  way  that  I  play  the  forehand  drive, 
which  is  the  most  useful  stroke  in  tennis;  it  is  the 
stroke  with  which  you  return  practically  all  of  the 
ground  balls  that  come  on  your  right  hand;  it  is  a 
stroke  that  you  must  master  if  you  are  to  play  even  a 
passable  game;  and  its  mastery  is  purely  a  matter  of 
care  and  practice. 

This  drive  is  made  with  a  free,  hard  swing  carried 
all  the  way  through.  Take  a  position  facing  the 
plane  of  the  oncoming  ball;  keep  your  eye  on  the 
ball;  rest  your  weight  on  your  right  foot  and,  as  the 
ball  rises  from  the  ground,  swing  back  your  racquet 
until  it  is  well  behind  you;  poise  an  instant  on  your 
balance  and  then  swing  the  racquet  around  so  that  it 

[36] 


THE  STROKES  THAT  WIN 
will  catch  the  ball  just  before  it  reaches  the  top  of  the 
bounce.  As  the  racquet  comes  in  contact  with  the 
ball,  incline  its  face  slightly  downward;  carry  the 
stroke  through  until  your  racquet  is  straight  across 
your  body.  At  the  moment  of  impact  of  racquet  and 
ball,  your  body  should  be  going  forward;  at  the  finish 
you  will  be  leaning  forward  with  your  weight  on  your 
left  foot. 

The  distance  at  which  you  should  stand  from  the 
ball  depends  upon  your  reach;  you  should  be  far 
enough  away  to  meet  the  ball  comfortably  with  out- 
stretched arm. 

The  inclination  of  the  racquet  gives  a  top  spin 
which  brings  a  hard-hit  ball  down  near  the  base 
line.  Without  the  spin  the  ball  would  fly  out  of  the 
court. 

You  will  notice  that  the  body  assists  the  arm  at  the 
point  of  contact :  in  fact,  the  stroke  is  a  kind  of  swing- 
ing into  the  ball  with  the  whole  force  of  your  arm  and 
body,  and  this  whole  force  will  not  be  effective  unless 
the  ball  is  taken  when  it  is  opposite  or  even  a  little 

[37] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  EN 
past  you.     If  you  hit  the  ball  too  soon,  you  must  go 
far  forward  and  thus  lose  the  momentum  of  your 
body. 

A  hard  forehand  drive  requires  a  certain  amount  of 
strength,  but  no  more  strength  than  the  average  girl 
possesses  if  she  so  times  her  stroke  as  to  utilize  every 
ounce  of  power.  Long  driving  in  golf  is  not  a  matter 
of  strength  and  neither  is  hard  driving  in  tennis;  it  is 
all  in  the  timing. 

I  strongly  recommend  the  slight  top  spin,  because 
it  enables  one  to  keep  the  hard-hit  ball  in  the  court. 
The  top  spin  is  in  the  direction  of  the  ball  and  there- 
fore does  not  work  against  speed.  If  you  can  keep 
the  ball  in  court  without  the  top  spin,  so  much  the 
better,  but  I  cannot  do  so. 

The  backhand  does  not  admit  of  quite  so  free  a 
motion  as  the  forehand  and  it  brings  into  play 
muscles  which  one  is  not  accustomed  to  use.  There- 
fore it  seems  very  difficult  at  the  beginning.  It 
baffles  many  players  because  it  seems  hard  to  hit  the 
ball  effectively  with  the  arm  across  the  body;  as  a 
[38] 


THE      STROKES      THAT      WIN 

matter  of  fact  it  is  a  simple  enough  stroke — no 
harder  to  learn  than  the  forehand  drive. 

Of  how  many  girls  do  you  hear  the  remark,  "  She 
is  weak  on  her  backhand!"  In  fact,  most  girls  are 
vulnerable  on  the  returns  sent  on  their  left  or  back- 
hand, but  they  would  be  nearly  as  strong  backhand 
as  forehand  if  only  they  would  study  the  stroke — and 
practise.  It  is  hard  to  attain  the  same  force  with  the 
backhand  as  with  the  forehand  drive,  for  the  position 
of  body  and  arm  is  not  advantageous,  but  a  very 
strong  ball  can  be  delivered. 

The  movements  of  the  backhand  drive  are  the  re- 
verse of  the  forehand,  but  the  stroke  is  governed  by 
precisely  the  same  principles.  You  face  the  plane  of 
the  ball  with  your  right  shoulder  instead  of  your  left 
toward  the  net;  your  weight  is  balanced  on  the  left 
instead  of  the  right  foot.  As  the  ball  comes  up, 
swing  your  racquet  back  across  your  body,  shifting 
your  thumb  to  support  the  grip.  Poise  a  moment 
and  then  come  through  with  the  racquet  and  body, 
the  inclined  racquet  face  meeting  the  ball  before  it 

[39] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

has  reached  the  top  of  the  bound.  Follow  your 
stroke  through  until  your  arm  is  at  least  straight  out; 
you  will  then  be  resting  on  your  right  foot. 

A  good  player  will  play  upon  your  left  or  backhand 
in  the  hope  that  you  will  make  a  weak  return.  Many 
girls  attempt  to  run  around  the  ball  in  order  to  use 
their  stronger  forehand  drive;  if  they  do  get  around  it 
is  almost  certain  that  they  will  be  out  of  position  and 
make  their  return  hurriedly  and  ineffectively.  There- 
fore it  is  very  important  to  gain  strength  with  the 
backhand  strokes  so  that  you  can  take  the  necessary 
time  to  make  sure  of  the  return.  1  have  seen  girls 
desperately  clutch  the  racquet  with  both  hands  in 
an  effort  to  steady  it  for  a  shot  which  they  had  con- 
vinced themselves  was  very  difficult. 

Slightly  more  strength  is  needed  for  the  backhand 
strokes  than  for  the  forehand,  because  the  motions 
bring  in  little-used  muscles,  but  proper  timing  is 
again  the  real  essential.  Use  your  weight  and 
strength  at  just  the  right  moment  and  you  will  get 
more  pace  than  an  awkward  giantess. 

[40] 


THE      STROKES      THAT      WIN 

The  footwork  and  the  swing  of  the  drives  will  not 
be  learned  in  actual  play;  they  must  be  tediously 
acquired  by  long  practice  in  which  only  the  two 
strokes  are  used.  Here  it  is  that  playing  the  ball 
against  a  wall  or  fence  will  be  useful  if  you  cannot 
find  a  partner  who  is  willing  to  give  up  the  time  to  tap 
balls  to  you.  It  often  helps  much  in  the  develop- 
ment of  one's  game  to  find  a  girl  who  also  wants 
practice  in  driving;  then  you  can  take  opposite  sides 
of  the  net  and  drive  to  each  other  by  the  hour. 

The  best  drives  are  made  with  some  deliberation; 
it  is  always  well  to  pause  in  the  back  swing  for  a 
fraction  of  a  second  to  sort  of  "  get  together."  Then 
you  can  come  through  with  a  splendid  sweep. 

"  But  I  have  all  that  I  can  do  to  reach  the  ball;  I 
am  glad  enough  to  hit  it  without  bothering  to  take  a 
position/'  says  a  player. 

Deliberation  and  position  are  comparative  mat- 
ters, but  if  you  play  carefully  you  will  find  that  you 
can  reach  most  balls  in  time  to  return  them  in  form. 
Getting  to  the  ball  is  often  a  matter  of  strategy,  but 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

reaching  the  ball  in  a  position  to  drive  carefully  is  due 
to  clever  footwork;  you  can  discover  by  careful 
practice  just  the  foot  to  start  on  to  bring  you  to  the 
forehand  drive  with  the  left  foot  out  and  to  the  back- 
hand drive  with  the  right  foot  out.  When  dancing 
you  manage  your  feet  with  at  least  a  casual  regard  to 
formality;  certainly  you  will  not  let  them  care  for 
themselves,  although  after  a  time  they  do  care  for 
themselves  without  conscious  attention.  It  is  quite 
the  same  in  the  footwork  of  tennis;  you  will  go  to- 
ward a  ball  remembering  just  how  your  feet  must  be 
placed  when  you  reach  it;  and  if  you  diligently  pay 
attention  to  these  positions  they  will  soon  become 
second  nature  to  you.  The  drive  cannot  be  executed 
without  the  aid  of  the  body,  and  the  body  will  not  do 
its  work  unless  the  feet  are  so  placed  as  to  permit  it 
to  go  forward  with  the  swing  of  the  racquet.  f  And 
you  must  be  equally  careful  not  to  run  into  the  ball  so 
that  you  will  not  have  the  room  properly  to  swing. 
The  body  swing  can  be  overdone  to  such  a  degree 
that  one  leaps  at  the  ball;  I  have  seen  many  pictures 
[42] 


Photograph  by  Paul  Thompson 
FINISH  OF  THE  FOREHAND  DRIVE 
Miss  Molla  Bjurstedt 


THE      STROKES      THAT      WIN 

of  myself  and  I  have  also  seen  pictures  of  Mrs.  Bundy 
with  both  feet  off  the  ground  at  the  crest  of  a  drive. 
This  is  due  to  over-eagerness  and  is  a  rather  bad 
fault,  for  it  leaves  one  out  of  position  for  a  quick  re- 
turn; it  is  hard  not  to  pounce  at  a  fairly  bouncing 
ball,  but  one  loses  rather  than  gains  pace  by  taking 
it  in  mid-air.  Of  course  it  is  spectacular,  but  aerial 
tennis  is  not  good  tennis  and  should  not  be  imi- 
tated. 

The  starting  of  the  swing  well  before  the  point  of 
impact  and  the  following  through  with  the  racquet 
long  after  the  ball  has  been  sent  away  are  essentially 
involved  in  every  well-hit  drive.  You  cannot  con- 
trol the  pace  and  direction  of  the  ball  with  a  mere 
poke  of  the  racquet :  the  drive  will  only  go  away  clean 
and  sweet  after  the  long  and  sustained  swing.  Opin- 
ions differ  on  just  how  long  this  swing  should  be.  I 
go  through  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  circle  on  a  hard 
drive,  but  a  half-circle  is  quite  enough,  the  ball  being 
hit  in  the  middle  of  the  arc.  It  is  far  better  to  swing 
too  much  than  too  little;  the  longer  swing  does  no 

[43] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

harm,  and  you  may  find  that  you  have  better  control 
with  the  very  full  follow  through. 

The  swing  and  footwork  having  been  passably 
attained,  practise  for  length  and  direction. 

A  drive  should  bounce  very  near  to  the  base  line  to 
be  effective;  that  keeps  your  opponent  in  back  court 
and  gives  you  a  far  better  chance  for  a  sizzling  return 
to  a  corner. 

What  is  accuracy?  If  you  can  come  within  a  foot 
of  any  given  point  at  the  back  of  the  court,  either  on 
the  side  lines  or  the  base  line,  you  are  accurate.  Mrs. 
Lambert  Chambers,  who  is  one  of  the  hardest  drivers 
I  have  ever  seen,  can  consistently  cut  the  side  lines 
toward  the  back  of  the  court;  she  continuously  makes 
shots  which,  with  the  average  player,  would  be 
merely  luck.  And  she  never  drives  herself  off  her 
feet. 

After  accuracy,  go  in  for  speed;  the  harder  you  can 
drive,  the  more  points  you  will  win.  Hit  every  ball 
with  all  your  might.  For  a  time  you  will  lose  some- 
thing of  accuracy.  Accuracy  must  not  be  sacrificed  to 

[44] 


THE      STROKES      THAT      WIN 

speed,  but  you  will  get  the  accuracy  back  if  you  count 
every  shot  a  bad  one  that  does  not  go  to  the  place 
that  you  intended. 

Speed  is  essential  if  you  are  going  to  place  a  return 
where  an  active  opponent  will  not  reach  it;  that  is  the 
purpose  of  speed.  It  is  no  harder  to  return  a  fast 
ball  than  a  slow  one,  but  the  fast  ball  is  harder  to 
reach,  because  you  do  not  have  the  time.  There- 
fore you  will  not  only  need  speed,  but  you  should  try 
to  send  the  ball  just  over  the  net  so  that  it  will  travel 
the  shortest  distance  to  the  point  at  which  you  aim. 
If  the  net  is  only  half  an  inch  too  high,  it  throws  me 
off  my  drive.  The  whole  idea  of  tennis  is  to  send  the 
ball  quickly  to  a  given  point;  obviously  you  will 
select  the  shortest  route  to  that  point  and  propel  the 
ball  with  all  possible  speed. 

I  have  no  patience  with  the  gentle  drives  which 
majestically  describe  tall  parabolas. 

Under  no  circumstances  favor  your  backhand;  it 
is  just  as  important  to  have  a  good  backhand  as  to 
have  a  good  forehand.  If  you  start  running  around 

[45] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

balls  to  take  them  on  the  forehand,  you  are  in  a  fair 
way  never  to  learn  the  game.  When  I  began  to  play, 
my  backhand  was  considerably  stronger  than  my 
forehand;  I  do  not  know  whether  it  is  weaker  or 
stronger  now.  When  I  first  played  in  the  United 
States  I  was  said  to  have  a  very  weak  backhand,  al- 
though I  found  little  trouble  in  winning  from  those 
who  played  to  my  backhand.  In  my  last  match 
with  Mrs.  Bundy  she  played  my  forehand  in  pref- 
erence to  my  backhand.  Mrs.  Wightman's  back- 
hand is  stronger  than  her  forehand,  while  Mrs. 
Bundy's  backhand  is  considerably  slower  than  her 
forehand. 

Mrs.  Bundy  is  the  hardest  driver  among  American 
girls,  but  I  think  Miss  Mary  Browne  has  the  best 
driving  form;  she  drives  equally  well  from  either  hand 
and  she  never  goes  into  the  air.  Both  Mrs.  Bundy 
and  Miss  Browne  are  very  accurate  drivers:  they 
can  place  the  ball  within  a  few  inches  of  where  they 
want  it.  Miss  Marie  Wagner  drives  extremely  well 
in  practice,  but  is  not  so  severe  in  her  matches. 

[46] 


THE      STROKES     THAT     WIN 

Mrs.  Cole  (Miss  Ann  Sheafe)  drives  a  splendid  ball 
when  at  the  top  of  her  game,  but  she  goes  off  easily 
and  becomes  very  erratic. 

The  drives  which  I  have  described  in  this  chapter 
are  plain,  straight  drives  with  a  slight  top  spin. 
Once  mastered,  the  player  will  have  all  the  driving 
game  she  can  possibly  require.  Other  ways  of  driv- 
ing are  in  vogue,  and  these  I  shall  take  up  in  a  later 
chapter,  but  I  feel  that  any  one  who  conquers  the 
straight  drive  is  a  good  tennis  player — without  more. 

/.  Face  the  plane  of  the  ball  with  your  side  turned 
toward  the  net. 

2.  Swing  your  racquet  well  lack  before  hitting, 
and  follow  through  after  the  ball  is  hit  with  a  steady, 
firm  swing  that  goes  through  at  least  half  a  circle. 

3.  Start  your  stroke  on  the  foot  farthest  away  from 
the  ball  and  finish  on  the  other  foot,  going  forward  as 
the  hit  is  made. 

4.  Coordinate  the  full  weight  of  your  body  and  the 
power  of  your  arm  at  the  moment  of  impact  of  racquet 
and  ball. 

[47] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

5.  Train  your  feet  so  that  they  will  always  be  in 
proper  position  when  you  reach  the  point  where  you 
intend  to  make  the  stroke. 

6.  Do  not  smother  your  stroke  by  getting  too  close 
to  the  ball. 

7.  Make  your  backhand  strokes  as  confidently  as 
your  forehand;  never  avoid  the  use  of  the  backhand. 

8.  Hard  drives  are  the  result  of  perfect  coordination, 
not  brute  strength. 

p.     Watch  the  ball. 


[48] 


CHAPTER  IV 

ACES  OR  DOUBLE  FAULTS — THE  SERVICE 

THE  service  is  the  stroke  which  puts  the  ball 
into  play.    One  has  the  advantage  of  mak- 
ing the  stroke  at  leisure  from  the  most  con- 
venient position,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  ball  must 
be  placed  within  the  boundaries  of  the  service  court, 
and,  when  you  take  the  net  into  consideration,  the  area 
into  which  the  ball  can  practically  be  placed  is  quite 
small.     I  think  the  advantage  of  a  deliberate  delivery 
is  offset  by  the  restricted  striking  area  and  the  con- 
sequent readiness  of  the  opponent  for  the  return. 

Many  players  think  of  the  service  only  as  a  wide- 
open  chance  to  score;  they  forget  that  the  limitations 
on  the  striking  place  of  the  ball  go  far  toward  negativ- 
ing the  opportunity.  They  bend  their  whole  effort 
toward  putting  a  speedy,  jumping  ball  over  in  the 
hope  of  scoring  a  service  ace. 

[49] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

Service  aces  are  not  to  be  sneered  at.  I  know  no 
more  delicious  feeling  than  that  which  comes  after 
scoring  a  clean  service  ace;  one's  conceit  is  then  un- 
bounded. And  I  do  not  wonder  that  the  mental 
balance  is  disturbed. 

I  have  known  many  girls  who  sacrifice  their  whole 
game  for  the  pleasure  of  an  occasional  service  ace;  I 
have  seen  them  practise  the  service  day  after  day 
when  they  were  entirely  without  adequate  drives. 
This  does  not  pay.  If  you  develop  a  very  fine  serv- 
ice, you  will  undoubtedly  score  many  aces  against 
the  poorer  players,  but  you  will  not  terrify  the  better 
players;  and  probably  your  whole  game  will  be  upset 
when  you  find  that  your  finest  services  are  being  re- 
turned to  you  with  a  little  interest  added  to  the  pace. 
The  "service"  player  usually  so  throws  herself  out 
of  position  with  the  hard  service  that  she  is  unable  to 
meet  a  swift  return  of  one  of  her  best  deliveries;  she  is 
apt  to  be  lost  in  wonder  while  the  return  slips  by  her 
for  the  point. 

If  you  will  examine  the  point  scores  of  the  women's 
[50] 


ACES      OR      DOUBLE       FAULTS 

matches,  you  will  find  very  few  service  aces.  And, 
going  farther  into  the  scores,  you  will  discover  that 
the  women  who  do  score  on  the  first  service  also  give 
away  about  as  many  points  through  double  faults. 
Too  much  luck  enters  into  their  games;  each  service 
resolves  itself  into  a  toss-up  for  the  point — they  may 
gain  it  or  they  may  give  it  away. 

I  have  yet  to  find  a  service  that  really  bothered  me 
on  account  of  its  pace;  no  matter  how  hard  the  women 
try,  they  cannot  serve  a  ball  which  compares  in  pace 
with  the  service  of  the  first  ten  among  the  men,  and 
even  the  service  of  these  men  is  very  far  from  being 
unplayable.  You  will  not  find  the  men  scoring 
heavily  on  service  aces  against  the  women  in  the 
mixed  doubles;  and,  of  course,  you  always  receive 
just  as  hard  a  ball  as  the  server  knows  how  to 
deliver.  It  is  so  extremely  annoying  to  be  favored 
on  the  service  that  few  men  will  attempt  to  do 
so. 

I  have  played  against  many  of  the  best  services; 
they  are  hard  to  handle  at  first,  but  once  one  has  dis- 

[51] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  EN 

covered  where  to  stand  the  return  is  not  extraordina- 
rily difficult. 

If  such  services  can  be  returned,  what  chance  has 
the  woman  to  put  over  an  unreturnable  ball? 

The  undue  concentration  on  the  service  robs  the 
player  not  only  of  strength  but  of  the  real  backbone 
of  her  game — the  play  after  the  service  in  which  the 
drives  make  so  large  a  part.  If  you  play  a  net 
game,  you  will  follow  in  on  your  service,  and  there- 
fore the  dash  to  the  net  may  well  begin  from  the  for- 
ward position  in  which  the  strenuous  service  leaves 
the  server;  but  very  few  of  the  girls  who  play  net  go 
in  on  their  service.  Hence  they  are  simply  left  off 
balance  for  the  first  return. 

But  the  strongest  objections  to  the  very  swift 
service  for  women  is  that  it  is  both  inaccurate  and 
fatiguing.  If  you  put  your  entire  strength  into  the 
service  you  must  lose  something  of  control,  unless 
you  are  a  most  exceptional  person;  it  is  not  possible 
to  make  a  hard  slam  with  the  same  delicacy  as  a 
stroke  well  within  your  strength.  At  least  half  of  the 
[52] 


Photograph  by  Edwin  Ltvick,  N.  Y. 

THE  SERVICE  OF  MRS.  GEORGE  W.  WIGHTMAN 


ACES      OR      DOUBLE      FAULTS 

first  balls  of  the  hard  servers  go  into  the  net  or  out  of 
the  court;  then  they  must  decide  between  another 
slam  with  the  chance  of  a  double  fault  or  make  an 
entire  change  of  style  to  deliver  a  slow  ball  which  may 
be  easily  killed.  The  slow  ball  is  hard  to  control 
after  the  vigorous  attempt  of  the  first  service.  Fast 
service  and  double  faults  always  go  together. 

If  the  fast  service  were  effective — and  it  is  not — 
the  tension  of  it  draws  too  heavily  on  the  strength  of 
a  woman.  It  is  useless  to  start  off  like  a  whirlwind 
and  collapse  toward  the  end  of  the  second  set.  A 
woman's  tournament  match  goes  to  the  winner  of 
two  out  of  three  sets,  and  you  must  adopt  a  game 
that  will  admit  of  playing  through  three  sets,  for  you 
will  seldom  win  the  stiff  matches  in  straight  sets.  A 
hard  service  takes  more  out  of  one  than  a  hard  drive, 
for  you  are  not  only  hitting  against  a  dead  ball  but 
you  are  climbing  up  into  the  air  to  do  so. 

I  think  that  every  player  will  find  that  it  pays  to 
serve  well  within  strength  and  to  give  more  attention 
to  place  than  to  speed.  It  also  helps  wonderfully  to 

[53] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

change  pace,  especially  if  you  can  do  it  with  ap- 
parently the  same  motions  that  send  off  the  faster 
ball.  By  playing  to  your  opponent's  weakness  with 
an  occasional  quick  variation  to  her  strength  you 
will  gain  more  service  aces  than  by  mere  undirected 
speed.  Very  few  aces  result  only  from  pace. 

I  cannot  see  any  advantage  in  the  reverse  twist  or 
other  complex  services  unless  they  are  played  super- 
latively well.  By  exercising  patience,  the  complex 
service  is  nearly  as  easy  to  return  as  any  other  service. 
There  are  many  variations  of  the  service;  by  hitting 
the  ball  a  glancing  blow,  spins  and  twists  are  imparted 
which  result  in  curves  and  breaks.  These  curves  and 
unexpected  directions  in  the  bounce  are  most  discon- 
certing when  first  met.  But  the  spin  of  the  ball 
which  produces  such  results  is  against  speed,  and,  if 
the  service  is  very  slow,  the  striker  has  but  to  await 
the  end  of  the  gyrations.  The  complex  service  must 
be  fast  to  be  effective;  great  speed  requires  great 
strength. 

I  use  only  the  straight  service,  and  I  do  not 
[54] 


ACES      OR      DOUBLE      FAULTS 

recommend  taking  the  time  to  master  the  more  diffi- 
cult styles.  The  ability  to  mix  up  several  varieties 
and  keep  the  opponent  uncomfortably  guessing  is 
valuable,  and  the  best  men  players  have  this  ability, 
but  I  know  no  woman  with  the  needed  strength  and 
endurance. 

In  the  ordinary  straight  service  a  deceptive  "shoot" 
may  be  had  on  certain  courts  by  getting  high  over  the 
ball  and  hitting  down,  but  this  is  not  a  special  service. 

The  ordinary  complex  services  are  the  "reverse 
twist"  and  what  is  known  abroad  as  the  "American 
service." 

On  the  "reverse  twist"  the  ball  spins  away  to  the 
left  and  curves  in  to  the  right,  continuing  the  curve 
as  the  ball  hits  the  ground.  The  server  practically 
draws  his  racquet  across  the  ball  from  left  to  right; 
the  ball  is  not  thrown  high  and  there  is  no  downward 
hit  to  the  racquet;  the  arm  is  bent  and  the  racquet  is 
more  or  less  perpendicular  at  the  moment  of  impact. 
It  is  almost  impossible  to  put  much  pace  into  the  ball, 
and  the  delivery  is  very  tiring. 

[55] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  EN 

In  the  "American  service"  the  ball  first  curves  out 
to  the  right  of  the  server,  and  then  in  to  his  left,  but 
breaks  again  to  the  right  when  it  strikes  the  ground. 

The  "  re  verse  American  service"  curls  first  left,  then 
right,  and  breaks  left.  The  curls  and  breaks  run  the 
striker  outside  the  court  in  the  attempt  to  make  the 
return. 

The  American  service  requires  much  practice  to  per- 
form at  all,  and  an  almost  infinite  amount  of  work  to 
acquire  control  and  speed.  The  ball  is  thrown  well  up 
to  the  left  of  the  head  and  the  racquet  is  brought 
across  from  the  left  hand  under  side  of  the  ball  to  the 
right-hand  upperside.  The  "  reverse  "  goes  in  the  op- 
posite direction. 

1  do  not  go  more  fully  into  these  services  because 
they  are  practically  impossible  to  attain  without  the 
best  of  instruction. 

Many  players  act  as  though  tennis  were  mostly 
service.  I  notice  Americans  highly  value  an  unre- 
turnable  service. 

A  man  may  develop  a  service  which  will  win  many 

[56] 


ACES      OR      DOUBLE      FAULTS 

aces;  a  strong  man  is  able  to  put  great  speed  into  a 
single  stroke  and  maintain  that  speed  throughout  a 
match.  I  have  never  known  a  woman  who  could 
serve  so  hard  that  a  good  player  could  not  return  the 
ball.  The  hard  service  unduly  exhausts.  To  my 
mind,  it  does  not  pay.  I  would  rather  devote  my- 
self to  the  strokes  after  the  service. 

I  put  a  reasonable  amount  of  speed  into  my  serv- 
ice, but  I  do  not  make  a  supreme  effort.  I  hit  the 
ball  hard  to  a  definite  point  in  the  court.  If  my  first 
ball  is  a  fault,  I  serve  the  second  ball  more  easily.  I 
think  it  more  important  to  take  my  chance  of  win- 
ning the  point  in  the  rally  rather  than  to  risk  it  in 
another  hard  service  which  probably  will  not  score 
an  ace  anyway. 

,  I  think  my  service  is  the  best  service  for  most  girls. 
I  stand  back  of  the  middle  point  of  the  base  line. 
There  is  no  advantage  in  standing  far  at  one  side  in  an 
effort  to  send  the  service  at  an  inconvenient  angle. 
'  \  rest  my  weight  on  the  right  foot,  the  balls  are  in 
my  left  hand,  and  the  racquet  is  swinging  at  my  side. 

[57] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

I  notice  the  position  of  my  opponent  and  locate  the 
best  spot  to  send  the  ball.  Then  I  toss  the  ball  into 
the  air  well  above  my  head,  although  not  so  high  as 
many  players,  and,  swinging  my  racquet  back  over 
my  head,  hit  down  hard  on  the  ball,  !at  the  same  time 
going  forward  with  my  body  so  that  I  end  the  stroke 
resting  on  my  left  foot,  thus  adding  the  weight  of  the 
body  to  the  strength  of  the  arm. 

When  the  racquet  comes  in  contact  with  the  ball, 
the  face  is  inclined  downward;  I  continue  my  stroke 
entirely  through,  and  my  racquet  finishes  in  almost 
the  same  position  that  it  started.  This  is  the  "  follow 
through"  which  is  so  important  for  pace  and  direction. 

I  never  serve  until  I  am  entirely  ready  and  properly 
balanced.  At  the  finish  I  am  balanced,  although  on 
the  left  foot;  it  is  a  mistake  to  hit  so  hard  that  one  is 
taken  off  balance  at  the  finish. 

This  service  is  very  simple  and  it  answers  all  my 
needs.  I  find  no  use  for  an  elaborate  " cut"  or  other 
fancy  service.  I  depend  on  reasonable  speed  and 
good  direction. 

[58] 


Photograph  by  Brown  Bros. 
THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  SERVICE 
Miss  Molla  Bjurstedt 


ACES      OR      DOUBLE      FAULTS 

Every  player,  as  she  progresses,  will  discover  in- 
dividual points  at  which  she  can  improve  her  service, 
and  it  is  well  to  try  out  with  various  professional 
coaches  or  men  players  of  experience.  For  instance, 
the  height  to  throw  the  ball  varies;  some  like  to  throw 
it  very  high  indeed — six  or  eight  feet — while  others 
can  serve  best  with  a  tiny  toss.  The  physical  make- 
up and  disposition  of  the  player  determines  the 
tossing  height;  I  should  become  nervous  if  I  tossed 
the  ball  very  high  and  waited  expectantly  for  its  fall. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  not  well  to  take  the  ball  only 
shoulder  high,  for  then  the  chance  of  a  net  or  an  out 
is  much  increased  by  the  small  angle  which  the  flight 
of  the  ball  makes  to  the  ground. 

The  strength  of  the  second  service  is  also  a  point 
much  in  dispute;  many  players  insist  that  the  second 
service  should  go  over  at  the  same  pace  as  the  first, 
but  I  do  not  agree  with  such  theories  in  the  woman's 
game.  I  do  not  know  a  single  woman  player,  here  or 
abroad,  who  attempts  the  second  service  with  the 
same  speed  as  the  first.  A  man  would  likely  kill  an 

[59] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  EN 

easy  second  service,  but  the  average  woman  will  not, 
and  therefore  the  chances  of  losing  the  point  through 
the  fast  return  are  less  than  the  chances  of  making  a 
double  fault.  One  has  at  least  a  fight  for  the  ace  on 
the  easier  second  serve,  while  a  double  fault  is  throw- 
ing the  point  away.  But,  in  any  event,  the  second 
service  should  have  good  length;  a  short,  high-bounc- 
ing ball  invites  a  smash  while  the  easy  long  ball  will 
not  bring  more  than  a  hard  drive  in  return.  It  makes 
for  accuracy  to  deliver  the  second  ball  with  just  the 
same  motion  as  the  first;  the  change  should  be  in  the 
pace. 

There  are  few  really  good  servers  among  women. 
Miss  Florence  Ballin  serves  one  of  the  hardest  balls, 
and  Mrs.  Bundy  one  of  the  easiest;  Mrs.  Frederick 
Schmitz  has  a  very  swift  and  well-controlled  service; 
Miss  Marie  Wagner  and  Miss  Alberta  Weber  both 
have  excellent  speed  and  control.  Mrs.  Wightman 
lacks  pace,  but  she  is  wonderfully  accurate;  she 
probably  scores  more  service  aces  than  any  other 
first-class  player.  When  playing  against  her  it  is 


ACES      OR      DOUBLE      FAULTS 

never  safe  to  take  a  position  simply  because  two  or 
three  services  have  struck  in  a  certain  place;  she  is 
very  apt  to  draw  you  to  one  side  and  then  shoot  the 
ball  down  the  middle  line.  Mrs.  Marshall  McLean 
is  also  an  accurate  server  who  perfectly  commands 
pace.  Very  few  women  can  change  pace  without 
so  advertising  the  fact  by  their  motions  that  all 
effect  of  the  change  is  lost,  but  Mrs.  McLean  will 
send  two  or  three  fairly  hard  balls  and  then  with  the 
same  motion  deliver  one  that  just  struggles  over  the 
net.  Her  service,  because  of  this  change  of  pace,  is 
most  deceptive. 

Probably  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  have  several 
ways  of  serving  the  ball.  Mrs.  Lambert  Chambers, 
now  and  again,  uses  the  underhand  service,  which  is 
as  decidedly  disconcerting  as  a  shift  from  the  over- 
head. But  there  are  so  many  things  to  learn  in  ten- 
nis— one  is  never  through  learning  the  simple  drives 
— that  I  doubt  if  any  girl  can  frankly  claim  to  have 
so  mastered  the  elements  that  she  can  afford  to  learn 
more  than  a  single  style  of  service. 
[61] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  EN 

Mrs.  Barger-Wallach  is  the  only  woman  here  who 
uses  the  underhand  service;  she  manages  it  well  be- 
cause she  is  very  accurate,  but  it  is  not  a  service  to 
commend.  More  power  and  control  can  be  had  from 
the  overhead,  and  it  takes  very  little  more  strength. 

No  service  is  good  unless  it  is  controlled.  You 
must  master  the  ball;  speed  is  desirable,  but,  above 
all,  cultivate  accuracy.  A  wild,  smashing  service 
will  have  no  terrors  if  it  is  in  a  nice  convenient  spot 
for  the  best  stroke  of  your  opponent. 

When  serving,  stand  in  the  middle  of  the  court 
back  of  the  base  line;  be  careful  not  to  cross  the  line 
on  delivery  or  you  will  have  a  foot-fault  called  on 
you.  Many  officials  do  not  pay  much  attention  to 
foot-faulting,  but  if  you  cultivate  a  style  in  which 
foot-faulting  is  frequent,  a  strict  official  will  entirely 
unsettle  your  game. 

If  you  have  never  before  played  your  opponent, 
try  her  until  you  find  what  she  likes  least.  Give  her 
that  ball  continuously  until  she  can  handle  it;  then 
try  something  new. 


ACES      OR      DOUBLE      FAULTS 

It  is  usually  well  to  start  serving  on  the  backhand, 
for  most  girls  have  weak  backhands.  If  you  are 
serving  into  the  left-hand  court,  make  your  ball  cut 
the  outside  line.  Your  opponent  will  have  to  run 
outside  the  court  for  the  return;  possibly  she  will  take 
a  position  far  over  in  order  to  get  in  her  forehand 
stroke.  If  she  does  so  or  starts  to  run  over  when  the 
ball  leaves  your  racquet,  shoot  the  next  service  down 
the  centre  line.  Keep  mixing  and  be  careful  that 
your  position  before  delivery  does  not  betray  the 
destination  of  the  ball.  Some  girls  tell  you  by  their 
movements  exactly  where  the  next  service  is  coming. 
Control  your  service;  you  may  not  score  an  ace  on 
service,  but  the  return  may  come  over  so  feebly  and 
the  striker  be  so  far  off  balance  that  you  can  easily 
score  with  a  hard  side-line  or  cross-court  drive. 

An  occasional  variation  of  speed  and  length  is  de- 
sirable, but  be  wary  of  the  slow  ball  against  a  good 
opponent;  she  will  do  as  she  likes  with  it  and  probably 
score.  I  have  never  had  much  success  with  change 
of  pace  excepting  against  players  of  slight  ability.  I 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

prefer  always  to  hit  the  ball  hard  and  trust  to  posi- 
tion. 

Once  you  have  served,  do  not  let  your  impetus 
take  you  into  the  court  unless  you  are  playing  the  net 
game.  Stand  behind  the  base  line  to  await  the  re- 
turn, with  your  eye  always  on  the  ball.  Then  return 
as  the  play  warrants. 

/.     Do  not  make  ihe  service  your  whole  game. 
•  2.     Practise  tie  slow  service  until  you  can  put  the 
ball  anywhere  you  like,  then  add  speed. 

3.  Play  well  within  yourself;  do  not  put  every  ounce 
you  have  into  the  service  or  you  will  tire  before  the  match 
ends. 

4.  Stand  at  tie  centre  of  the  base  line  and  far  enough 
behind  not  to  go  over  it  until  you  have  bit  the  ball.     Do 
not  cultivate  afoot-faulting  style. 

5.  Toss  the  ball  at  least  several  feet  above  your  bead. 

6.  Get  well  over  the  ball  for  your  stroke  and  bit  down. 

7.  //  you  decide  to  go  in  for  the  complex  services  or 
the  services  of  great  speed,  keep  careful  tabs  to  discover 
whether  or  not  they  pay  you. 


AT  THE  FINISH  OF  THE  SERVICE 
Miss  Molla  Bjurstedt 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   VOLLEY   AND  THE    LOB 

rTHE  volley  and  the  smash — which  is  only  a 
rery  hard,  killing  volley — the  ball  is  hit  before 
rhe  bounce.     Because  the  ball  is  hit  in  the  air, 
time  is  saved;  every  stroke  which  saves  time  is  a  good 
stroke,  for  it  gives  that  much  less  opportunity  for  an 
opponent  to  recover  position. 

But,  insofar  as  the  woman's  game  is  concerned, 
the  volley  should  be  considered  as  a  stroke  and  not  as 
a  style  of  play;  it  is  a  most  valuable  adjunct  to  the 
drive  in  singles  and  is  indispensable  in  doubles.  The 
force  of  the  volley  and  much  of  the  placement  is  lost 
unless  the  ball  is  hit  while  it  is  above  the  top  line  of 
the  net.  Therefore  the  successful  volleys  are  made 
close  to  net:  I  think  ten  feet  is  nearly  a  maximum 
distance.  You  must  reach  a  point  very  close  to 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  EN 

the  net  if  you  expect  to  have  luck  with  the  vol- 
ley. 

Covering  the  width  of  the  court  at  the  net  is  a  very 
different  matter  from  covering  the  court  at  the  base 
line.  At  the  base  line  you  have  a  chance  to  watch 
the  flight  of  the  ball,  move  to  position,  and  then  make 
the  return,  more  or  less  leisurely,  from  the  bounce. 
At  the  net  you  flash  from  point  to  point  or  you  are 
passed  for  an  ace.  A  splendid  eye  that  can  take  the 
ball  the  second  it  leaves  the  opponent's  racquet, 
lightning  speed  in  getting  into  position,  and  a  good 
reach,  are  among  the  requisites  for  the  net  game. 
Instead  of  crossing  the  court  at  the  base  line,  the  net 
player  must  travel  from  the  base  line  to  the  net  with 
all  speed,  circulate  to  and  fro  across  the  net,  and 
make  occasional  sprints  back  to  the  base  line  to  re- 
cover high  lobs. 

Three  sets  from  the  base  line  take  quite  enough  out 

of  a  girl  without  doubling  the  work  by  trying  to  play 

net.    One  very  seldom  finds  a  girl  who  can  last 

through  three  sets  of  net  play  against  a  strong  back- 

[66] 


THE      VOLLEY      AND      THE      LOB 

court  player.  It  is  not  the  woman's  game;  it  asks 
more  activity  and  more  stamina  than  any  woman 
that  I  have  yet  discovered  possesses. 

The  best  exponents  of  net  players  in  this  country 
are  Mrs.  Wightman,  Miss  Eleanora  Sears,  and  Miss 
Mary  Browne.  Mrs.  Wightman  can  take  almost  any 
sort  of  a  ball  at  the  net — it  is  fatal  to  try  to  drive  her 
back  by  a  swift  ball  directly  at  her — but  she  cannot 
go  three  hard  sets  of  such  play.  She  wears  herself 
out  if  her  opponent  is  clever  enough  to  make  her  run 
through  the  first  set. 

Many,  many  girls  ruin  perfectly  good  games  by 
attempting  to  volley  when  they  should  stay  back 
and  drive.  They  watch  the  men  fighting  for  the  net 
and  they  think  tennis  begins  and  ends  with  the 
mastery  of  the -net.  If  you  can  cover  the  whole 
court  from  the  net  position,  by  all  means  play  net; 
but  getting  three  out  of  five  balls  is  not  mastery;  a 
temporary  mastery — say  through  a  dozen  games — 
until  fatigue  wins,  is  also  not  a  satisfactory  style  to 
depend  upon. 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  EN 

The  women  abroad  do  not  go  in  much  for  the 
volley;  they  seldom  volley  in  doubles — where  the 
volley  is  absolutely  necessary.  Many  of  the  best 
players  will  not  even  take  a  fair  chance  to  kill  a  slow, 
high  ball.  This  is  going  too  far.  The  best  use  of 
the  volley  will  be  found  somewhere  between  the  two 
extremes. 

I  think  the  volley  should  be  reserved  for  the  periods 
when  one  has  an  opponent  in  trouble.  If  you  have 
her  very  much  tangled  up  so  that  she  barely  makes  a 
return,  I  favor  going  to  the  net  and  making  sure  of 
the  point  with  a  quick,  well-placed  volley. 

I  consider  the  volley  as  a  most  important  adjunct 
to  the  ground  game,  but  I  do  not  rate  it  with  the 
drives.  I  depend  on  the  ground  strokes  and  only 
come  in  to  volley  when  a  good  opportunity  offers. 

The  volley  is  a  time-saving  stroke,  because  the  ball 
is  taken  in  full  flight,  but  it  is  not  of  much  use  unless 
you  can  place  it  as  you  would  any  other  return.  And 
it  takes  quick  thinking  and  quick  muscles  to  volley  to 
position. 

[68] 


THE      VOLLEY      AND      THE      LOB 

The  principles  of  the  volley  are  comparatively 
simple.  Take  the  ball  as  close  to  the  net  as  possible, 
hit  down  and  deep  into  the  court.  It  is  manifestly 
easier  to  send  the  ball  to  a  definite  place  in  the  op- 
ponent's court  if  you  meet  it  when  high  in  the  air  and 
near  to  the  net;  such  a  position  practically  eliminates 
the  net  from  consideration  and  your  only  problem  is 
to  strike  down  to  any  point  you  fancy.  The  volley 
must  be  deep  or  you  lose  the  advantage  of  the  quick 
return  and  give  your  opponent  ample  time  to  get  it  on 
the  bounce. 

The  treatment  of  a  volley  depends  upon  the 
amount  of  time  you  have  and  the  height  of  the  ball. 
In  the  case  of  a  high  ball — anything  shoulder-high 
which  you  can  see  in  flight — hit  with  a  sharp  stroke. 
The  lower  arriving  balls  are  not  hit  but  are  sort  of 
pushed,  the  force  of  the  push  depending  upon  the 
speed  of  the  ball ;  a  very  swift  ball  will  go  back  of  its 
own  force. 

In  the  case  of  a  low  volley,  do  not  be  afraid  to  bend 
over;  take  the  ball  with  a  horizontal  racquet;  it  is 

[69] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

very  hard  to  make  such  a  low  ball  clear  the  net  if  the 
racquet  is  vertical;  it  is  best  to  have  the  head  of  the 
racquet  above  the  wrist. 

The  tendency  of  the  ball  when  volleyed  is  to  strike 
down  into  the  net,  and  this  danger  increases  with  the 
distance  from  the  net.  Unless  you  are  absolutely 
caught  and  cannot  get  back  for  the  bounce,  do  not 
take  a  full  ball  behind  the  service  line  unless  it  be  high 
overhead.  Very  few  players  are  able  to  volley  ac- 
curately from  such  a  position;  and  you  should  never 
be  in  such  a  position,  anyway,  from  choice. 

Inclining  the  face  of  the  racquet  slightly  back — 
"  bevelling,"  it  is  called — helps  to  keep  the  ball  out  of 
the  net;  the  ball  will  likely  come  toward  you  with  a 
slight  top  spin  because  most  strokes  impart,  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously,  a  top  spin  in  greater  or  less 
degree.  The  inclined  racquet  checks  the  spin  and 
hangs  the  ball  in  the  air  until  the  net  is  crossed. 

The  volley  is  not  a  stroke  in  the  sense  of  having  a 
swing  and  follow  through;  it  is  rather  a  flick  of  the 
forearm  and  wrist,  and  hence  it  is  as  easy  to  make 

[70] 


THE     VOLLEY     AND     THE      LOB 

backhand  as  forehand.  Sometimes,  when  hurried, 
very  near  to  the  net,  it  is  only  necessary  to  get  the 
face  of  the  racquet  before  the  ball;  then  the  speed  of 
the  ball  will  take  it  back. 

In  every  case  the  racquet  should  be  held  very 
firmly,  for  the  slightest  quiver  will  destroy  the  stroke. 
And  always  run  into  a  volley — do  not  back  away 
from  the  ball.  Firmness  is  requisite,  and  firmness 
will  not  be  had  when  leaning  backward. 

A  smash  is  a  powerfully  executed  volley  which  you 
expect  to  be  non-returnable  because  of  its  speed  and 
placement.  Every  hard-hit  ball  is  not  a  smash  and 
every  smash  is  not  point  winning.  But  you  al- 
ways expect  your  smash  to  win  or  to  be  returned 
so  feebly  as  to  give  another  smashing  chance  for 
score. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  a  smash  is  a  stroke 
and  not  a  style  of  play;  it  is  such  a  delightful  sen- 
sation to  hit  a  ball  with  all  one's  might  that  the 
temptation  is  to  smash  everything.  Many  points 
are  thrown  away  by  smashes  which  go  sailing  beyond 
[7'] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

the  court.  The  safe  rule  in  smashing  is  not  to  at- 
tempt more  than  you  can  put  through. 

When  to  smash  depends  upon  the  player  and  the 
circumstances;  a  few  men  players  can  smash  any  ball, 
but  a  girl  will  do  well  to  smash  only  the  balls  that 
seem  piteously  to  invite  a  killing  stroke  to  put  them 
out  of  misery.  Such  balls  are  the  "pops"  and  the 
short  lobs  by  a  player  out  of  balance  and  position. 
As  you  progress  in  the  game,  you  will  find  more  and 
more  chances  to  smash  in  matches  against  weaker 
players,  but  the  better  players  do  not  give  so  many 
openings,  and  smashing  is  largely  confined  to  lobs  and 
flukes. 

It  is  essential  in  order  to  smash  that  you  follow  the 
flight  of  the  ball  and  thus  get  a  full,  straight  down- 
ward swing  into  which  goes  the  full  weight  of  your 
body;  the  short  lobs  make  ideal  smashing  subjects. 
There  is  little  difficulty  in  the  smash  excepting  with 
the  deep  lobs.  The  smashing  of  high,  deep  lobs  re- 
quires practice,  and  the  stroke  is  seldom  very  ef- 
fective, because  the  long  carry  takes  away  a  deal  of 

1 72] 


THE      VOLLEY      AND      THE      LOB 

the  force  of  the  ball  and  makes  it  comparatively  easy 
to  return. 

A  smash  should  be  placed;  it  is  not  just  a  crash  at 
the  ball.  Aim  to  send  the  ball,  with  terrific  speed, 
either  straight  at  your  opponent,  or,  better,  down  a 
side  line  or  cross  court.  In  general  it  should  strike 
deep  into  the  court,  and,  being  hit  straight  from 
above,  it  bounces  very  high  and  at  a  sharp  angle. 

Put  all  your  strength  into  a  smash;  you  are  after 
the  point  on  one  stroke,  and  it  takes  strength  to 
"kill/' 

The  half-volley  is  a  ground  stroke,  because  the  ball 
actually  hits  the  ground,  but  the  racquet  is  put  to  the 
ball  so  quickly  that  the  result  is  something  of  a  cross 
between  a  ground  stroke  and  a  volley.  A  very  few 
players,  notably  Mrs.  Lambert  Chambers  and  Mr. 
R.  Norris  Williams,  actually  use  the  stroke  as  a  part 
of  their  play.  With  most  players  it  is  a  stroke  of 
desperation  and  more  often  fails  than  succeeds. 

One  need  never  use  the  half-volley  unless  caught 
near  the  service  line,  off  balance,  so  that  neither  a 

[73] 


I 

TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

run  in  for  a  volley  nor  a  run  back  for  a  drive  is  pos- 
sible; then  the  ball  is  hit  at  almost  the  same  moment 
that  it  touches  the  ground;  in  other  words,  it  is  a 
pick-up;  the  racquet  is  struck  sharply  down  with  the 
wrist  and  forearm. 

I  am  not  ashamed  to  say  that  I  regard  my  return  of 
a  ball  on  the  half- volley  as  pure  luck;  I  do  not  believe 
the  stroke  is  ever  worth  development  as  an  integral 
part  of  the  game  and  it  should  be  used  only  when  you 
have  been  forced  out  of  position.  Of  course  the 
advice  always  to  hit  a  rising  ball  finds  its  logical  out- 
come in  taking  the  ball  the  moment  that  it  leaves  the 
ground,  but  this  is,  I  think,  carrying  the  principle  to 
an  absurdity.  The  half-volley  is  a  useful  stroke 
to  know,  but  it  is  one  of  those  strokes  that  come 
by  instinct  rather  than  by  practice. 

Keeping  the  eye  on  the  ball  is  two-thirds  of  the 
volley,  the  smash,  and  the  half-volley.  The  actual 
strokes  are  very  easy,  but  the  judgment  of  the  ball  is 
not  easy  and  will  not  be  attained  unless  the  eye  is 
trained  to  be  ever  with  the  ball. 

[74] 


THE      VOLLEY      AND      THE      LOB 

The  defence  to  the  volley  is  the  lob,  which  goes 
well  over  the  head  of  the  player  at  the  net  and 
drops  far  in  the  back  of  the  court.  The  lob  may 
also  be  an  offensive  stroke  when  it  just  clears  the 
net  player  and  bounds  so  swiftly  into  the  back  court 
that  the  player  cannot  run  back  to  reach  it. 

The  lob,  like  the  volley,  is  a  part  of  the  game,  but 
is  not  a  satisfactory  style  of  play  excepting  in  doubles. 
Nothing  is  more  pathetic  than  to  see  a  player  in 
singles  returning  high  lob  after  high  lob  in  the  hope 
that,  in  time,  the  opponent  will  smash  one  into  the 
net.  No  more  irritating  style  of  play  exists,  and,  if 
this  sort  of  game  has  any  excuse,  it  is  as  a  test  of 
temper.  If  you  can  preserve  a  decent  disposition 
through  a  couple  of  sets  against  a  player  who  only 
lobs,  nothing  in  this  world  is  apt  thereafter  to  bother 
you  much.  The  lob  so  used  is  not  tennis. 

A  lob  may  often  be  very  helpful  in  doubles,  but  I 
have  little  or  no  use  for  it  in  singles.  A  badly  exe- 
cuted lob  gives  the  opponent  a  splendid  chance  for 
a  smash,  while  a  good  lob  will  only  gain  a  little  time. 

[75] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  EN 

A  lobber  seldom  wins  unless  her  opponent  succumbs 
to  irritable  fatigue. 

Therefore  I  unreservedly  say  that  one  should  lob 
only  when  no  other  play  seems  possible.  I  abhor  ex- 
cessive lobbing. 

A  lob  must  be  definitely  placed,  just  high  enough  to 
avoid  the  player  at  the  net  and  land  at  or  very  near 
the  base  line.  There  are  advocates  of  the  very  high 
lob,  but  I  can  see  no  merit  in  a  high  lob;  the  object  of 
the  play  is  to  put  the  ball  out  of  reach,  and  a  height 
beyond  that  point  only  gives  the  opponent  ample 
time  to  travel  into  the  back  court  for  the  return. 
Naturally  the  lower  the  lob,  the  more  quickly  it  will 
reach  its  destination.  The  height  is  also  controlled 
by  the  fact  that  every  effective  lob  must  be  deep.  A 
short  lob  gives  a  splendid  opportunity  for  a  killing 
smash  and  amounts  to  tossing  away  a  point. 

Therefore  my  advice  is :  lob  only  when  you  are  in  a 
hole,  lob  deep  and  just  high  enough  to  clear  the  net 
player  and  still  reach  somewhere  close  to  the  base 
line. 

[76] 


THE      VOLLEY      AND      THE      LOB 

The  defence  against  the  lob  is  mainly  a  matter  of 
activity;  you  should  recognize  where  the  ball  is 
coming  as  it  leaves  the  racquet.  If  the  lob  will  be 
short,  run  backward,  with  your  racquet  poised  in  the 
air.  If  the  lob  is  deep,  turn  and  make  a  dash  for  the 
base  line,  turning  again  to  take  the  ball. 

I  find  that  I  can  usually  pass  a  girl  at  the  net 
with  a  drive,  and  prefer  this  method  to  lobbing. 
However,  if  you  must  lob,  place  as  carefully  as 
any  other  stroke.  Then  you  may  transform  the 
dangerous  position  that  forced  you  to  lob  into  a 
position  of  advantage  for  killing  a  weak  return.  The 
backhand  corner  is  often  the  best  place  to  direct  the 
ball.  Most  girls  will  run  around  a  high  lob  thus 
placed  to  take  it  on  their  forehand,  and  they  will 
seldom  have  time  to  make  an  adequate  return. 

The  handling  of  lobs  is  an  open  question;  some 
players  smash  all  lobs,  short  or  deep;  there  can  be  no 
question  but  that  all  short  lobs  should  be  smashed. 
But  I  think  it  is  dangerous  for  most  players  to  smash 
deep  lobs;  the  ball  must  be  hit  at  just  the  right  point 

[77] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

or  it  will  either  slam  into  the  net  or  go  wildly  out  of 
the  court.  I  find  that  it  pays  me  to  let  the  lob 
bounce  and  drive  it  hard;  this  is  not  an  approved 
style  of  play.  Those  who  do  not  advocate  the  smash- 
ing of  all  lobs  say  they  should  at  least  be  volleyed.  I 
would  suggest  that  the  player  experiment  with  the 
several  styles  until  she  finds  which  gives  the  best 
result.  Remember  that  a  couple  of  successful 
smashes  do  not  counterbalance  a  dozen  nets  or  outs. 

Skilful  lobbing  is  scarce  among  women  players;  a 
few  players  do  nothing  but  lob,  while  the  others  lob 
in  singles  when  they  can  find  no  other  safe  stroke  or 
to  gain  a  breathing  space.  Very  seldom  is  the  lob 
well  placed.  Miss  Mary  Browne  and  Mrs.  Marshall 
McLean  place  their  lobs  well  in  singles,  and  Mrs. 
Wightman  is  very  accurate  with  the  stroke  in 
doubles,  but  she  seldom  uses  it  in  the  singles  matches. 

The  stroke  for  the  high  lob  is  made  by  getting 
under  the  ball  and  hitting  up;  only  constant  practice 
will  give  the  direction  and  the  force  needed  to  find  the 
back  of  the  court. 

[78] 


Photograph  by  Edwin  Levick,  N .  Y. 
DRIVING  A  SHORT  LOB 
Miss  Mary  Browne 


THE      VOLLEY      AND      THE      LOB 

On  both  the  volley  and  the  lob  and  all  things  con- 
nected therewith  I  am  a  rank  heretic.  I  value 
both  of  them  very  slightly,  excepting  in  doubles. 

/.  Do  not  attempt  to  volley  when  more' than  ten  feet 
from  the  net. 

2.  Run  into  the  volley;  do  not  take  it  while  moving 
backward. 

3.  Keep  your  arm  and  racquet  very  rigid. 

4.  Do  not  become  so  enamored  of  the  volley  that  you 
neglect  the  other  parts  of  your  game.     Keep  the  play 
where  it  belongs. 

5.  Smash  hard,  but  smash  sparingly;  do  not  smash 
when  in  doubt,  and  never  smash  when  standing  behind 
the  service  line. 

6.  Half -volley  only  when  you  can  do  nothing  else. 

7.  Lob  when  caught  in  a  hole  or  when  you  need 
breathing  time;  do  not  lob  as  a  style  in  singles. 

8.  Always  volley  and  lob  to  position. 


(79 


CHAPTER  VI 

PUTTING   A  TWIST  ON   THE    BALL 

THOSE  who  have  scientifically  observed  the 
flight  of  a  tennis  ball  say  that  it  is  impossible 
to  hit  a  ball  so  that  it  will  not  rotate  upon 
its  axis.    Whatever  the  normal  rotation  may  be  of  a 
ball  which  is  intended  to  be  hit  without  a  spin, 
certain  premeditated  spins  may  be  given  which  will 
vastly  influence  flight. 

If  the  racquet  is  passed  over  the  top  of  the  ball,  a 
top  spin  in  the  direction  of  the  flight  will  be  given; 
this  spin  brings  the  ball  to  earth  long  before  the 
natural  force  of  gravitation.  Therefore  one  may  hit  a 
top  spin  very  hard  and  still  have  the  ball  come  down 
in  the  court.  Most  drives  which  are  intended  to  be 
straight  and  nearly  all  of  the  so-called  straight  serv- 
ices have  more  or  less  top  spin.  The  lifting  drive 

[so] 


PUTTING   A   TWIST   ON   THE   BALL 

is  the  most  familiar  of  the  premeditated  top-spinning 
strokes. 

When  the  racquet  passes  under  the  ball,  a  back 
spin  or  undercut  is  effected ;  the  force  of  this  motion 
is  against  that  of  gravitation  and  therefore  the  ball 
keeps  an  almost  level  course  until  the  spin  is  spent; 
then  it  drops  dead  to  the  surface. 

By  passing  the  racquet  to  the  right  or  the  left,  side 
spins  or  twists  are  given,  as  in  the  twisting  services. 
This  stroke  cannot  well  be  used  in  the  play  after  the 
service  because  the  motion  of  the  racquet  is  rather 
awkward. 

When  a  top-spinning  ball  bounces,  the  rotation  is 
seldom  spent,  and  therefore  the  ball  shoots  from  the 
ground  and  is  apt  to  fly  up  into  the  air  when  hit  by 
the  racquet.  It  is  a  particularly  hard  ball  to  volley 
because  of  this  tendency;  as  explained  in  the  chapter 
on  the  volley,  an  inclined  racquet  will  check  the 
motion.  The  ball  with  an  underspin  drops  almost 
vertically  if  severely  cut  and  gives  a  low  kick  rather 
than  a  bounce;  it  is  an  ugly  ball  to  handle  hurriedly. 
[81] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

The  rule  to  bear  in  mind  in  receiving  all  twisting 
balls  is  that  the  ball  will  curve  in  the  direction  op- 
posite to  that  which  the  racquet  took  in  the  stroke 
and  will  bounce  in  the  same  direction  as  the  motion 
of  the  racquet.  Let  me  illustrate:  the  top  spin  is 
made  by  passing  the  racquet  forward  over  the  ball, 
the  ball  tends  to  rotate  back  to  the  striker,  but  when 
it  hits  the  ground  the  shoot  is  forward.  The  under- 
cut is  made  with  a  down  and  under  motion  of  the 
racquet;  therefore  the  ball  tends  to  rise  against  gravi- 
tation, and,  when  it  hits  the  ground,  tries  to  go  back 
to  the  striker.  A  ball  curving  left  will  bounce  to  the 
right  and  a  ball  curving  right  will  bounce  to  the  left. 

By  watching  the  motion  of  your  opponent's  rac- 
quet you  will  know  how  to  treat  the  ball  when  it 
arrives;  you  will  not  be  deceived  by  the  jumpy  bound 
which  some  services  take  in  the  direction  opposite  to 
their  wide  curve. 

As  I  said  in  the  chapter  on  the  drives,  nearly  all 
drives  have  more  or  less  top  spin,  and  I  think  that  a 
certain  amount  of  top  spin  is  always  valuable,  be- 

[82] 


PUTTING   A   TWIST   ON   THE   BALL 

cause  it  enables  one  to  hit  a  hard  ball  which  is  diffi- 
cult to  volley  and  yet  which  will  keep  in  court. 
This  valuable  length  is  hard  to  attain  with  a  per- 
fectly straight  ball.  I  do  not,  however,  advocate  a 
very  pronounced  top  spin  because  that  brings  the 
ball  down  too  soon. 

It  is  to  control  length  that  both  the  top  spin  and 
the  undercut  belong  in  tennis.  They  are  useful  only 
insofar  as  they  preserve  their  legitimate  functions. 

The  chop  is  the  undercut  stroke  most  commonly 
used.  The  racquet  passes  over  the  ball  diagonally 
from  right  to  left  with  a  sharp  downward  blow.  The 
wrist  must  be  kept  very  firm  and  slightly  snapped  at 
the  moment  of  contact  with  ball.  The  motion  is 
almost  the  same  as  in  chopping  with  a  hatchet,  hence 
the  name  of  the  stroke. 

The  chop  hangs  the  ball  in  the  air  on  account  of  the 
back  spin  and  it  drops  almost  dead  after  crossing  the 
net.  The  experts  with  the  chop  can  command  its 
length  to  a  nicety.  They  apparently  hit  a  ball  very 
severely  from  the  back  of  the  court  but  it  drops  only 


TENNIS       FOR      WOMEN 

four  or  five  feet  beyond  the  net.  Such  abbreviation 
of  length  is  impossible  with  any  stroke  which  de- 
pends on  gravity  to  bring  the  ball  down.  Therefore 
the  chop  is  often  used  to  pull  a  base-line  player  out  of 
position. 

In  my  match  with  Miss  Mary  Browne  in  Los 
Angeles  she  used  the  chop  to  dislodge  me.  When  I 
served  to  her,  say,  in  the  right-hand  court,  she  would 
chop  my  service  to  the  right  side  line  just  a  few  feet 
beyond  the  net.  Taken  unawares,  it  was  all  that  I 
could  do  to  reach  the  ball  for  the  return.  And  being 
caught  in  this  awkward  corner,  I  left  my  whole 
court  open  for  an  easy  score.  This  style  of  play 
bothered  me  considerably,  for  Miss  Browne  not  only 
chopped  into  the  corners  but  occasionally  chopped 
down  the  centre  and  now  and  again  drove  freely. 
She  won  the  first  set  entirely  with  this  stroke,  but 
then  I  found  that  I  could  discover  where  and  how  the 
ball  was  coming  by  watching  the  motion  of  her  rac- 
quet. The  chop  is  not  dangerous  when  you  know  it 
is  coming.  Following  the  ball  from  the  racquet,  I 
[84] 


PUTTING   A   TWIST   ON   THE   BALL 

was  able  to  arrive  at  the  right  place  in  time  to  make  a 
killing  return.  Having  solved  her  chop,  I  won  the 
match.  When  the  straight  hard  drive  and  the  chop 
can  be  mixed  sufficiently  they  will  bother  almost  any 
player,  and  especially  a  player  who  is  easily  put  off 
her  game. 

Mrs.  Lambert  Chambers  chops  with  exceeding 
cleverness ;  she  is  one  of  the  few  players  who  are  able 
to  chop  effectively  and  yet  preserve  the  hard  driving 
qualities  of  the  game.  She  has  won  several  matches 
against  base-line  players  simply  by  changing  the 
length  of  her  returns.  If  she  returns  with  a  short 
chop  from  the  service  her  next  ball  would  be  a  hard, 
full-length  drive,  thus  keeping  her  opponent  in  a  con- 
tinual race  from  the  base  line  to  the  net. 

The  value  of  the  chop  and  of  all  cut  strokes  lies  in 
their  unexpectedness  and  consequent  disconcerting 
effect  upon  the  opponent.  If  you  know  a  chop  is 
coming,  you  can  be  ready  for  it,  and  incidentally  it  is 
the  easiest  ball  in  the  world  to  volley,  because  the 
backward  spin  tends  to  return  the  ball  over  the  net. 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

If  you  merely  touch  a  back-spinning  ball  anywhere 
near  the  net,  it  will  go  over. 

The  ball  with  the  twist  is  disturbing  because  it 
bounces  at  an  odd  angle.  The  first  time  that  you  re- 
ceive one  you  will  probably  miss  it  altogether  or 
knock  it  lamely  into  the  net.  This  makes  some 
players  feel  foolish  and  throws  them  off  their  game. 
Miss  Anita  Meyers  sometimes  returns  with  a  twist. 
When  I  first  met  her,  I  was  decidedly  rattled  by  the 
uncanny  bounces,  and  I  went  off  my  game  for  some 
little  while,  but  then,  as  in  the  case  of  the  chop,  I  was 
able  to  judge  the  ball  by  the  motion  of  the  racquet. 
Once  you  know  how  a  twisting  ball  is  going  to  act,  it 
is  really  easier  to  return  than  a  straight  ball,  because 
it  is  slower  and  gives  an  unlimited  opportunity  for  a 
strong  drive. 

Mrs.  Von  Sitka,  at  one  time  the  German  champion, 
is  an  expert  with  the  chop  stroke.  She  is  one  of  the 
three  or  four  women  in  Europe  who  use  the  chop 
stroke  as  a  style  of  play  and  still  manage  to  take  high 
rank.  Fraulein  Rieck,  another  German  champion, 
[86] 


PUTTING   A   TWIST  ON   THE   BALL 

against  whom  I  played  in  Homburg  several  years 
ago,  puts  a  tremendous  top  spin  on  almost  every  ball. 
She  strikes  very  hard  and  her  drives  shoot  as  they 
hit  the  ground.  If  you  return  them  with  the  ordi- 
nary stroke  the  ball  will  go  almost  straight  up  into 
the  air.  Hers  is  the  most  bothersome  drive  I  have 
ever  met,  because  she  not  only  has  all  this  spin  and 
speed  but  also  has  the  most  remarkable  delicacy  of 
direction.  I  could  not  handle  her  drives  and  she 
beat  me.  I  think  that,  with  the  knowledge  which  I 
now  have  of  the  conduct  of  a  spinning  ball,  I  would 
to-day  be  able  to  conquer  her  drives. 

In  addition  to  the  players  whom  I  have  mentioned, 
the  only  other  first-class  players  who  use  the  chop 
stroke  to  any  advantage  are  Mrs.  Wightman  and 
Miss  Eleanora  Sears.  Mrs.  Wightman  chops  solely 
to  bother  a  base  liner,  and  when  she  is  at  the  top  of 
her  game  it  never  does  to  let  her  command  the  ball. 
She  will  keep  you  on  the  run  with  the  chop,  straight 
drive,  and  volley  until  she  gets  the  point.  I  think, 
however,  that  the  chop  has  had  some  influence  on  the 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

strength  of  her  drive,  and  certainly  Miss  Sears  weak- 
ens her  very  strong  game  by  too  much  chopping. 

Therein  lies  the  danger  of  the  chop  and  all  the 
other  strokes  which  I  choose  to  call  "fancy"  strokes 
— they  absorb  the  whole  of  one's  game.  I  do  not 
understand  why,  but  once  a  player  has  acquired  a  pas- 
sable proficiency  with  the  chop  stroke,  she  neglects 
her  straight  drive.  As  skill  with  the  chop  increases, 
the  drive  steadily  decreases.  The  result  is  a  game  in 
which  tricks  take  the  place  of  straight,  hard  play. 

Possibly  the  fondness  for  the  chop  may  be  traced 
to  its  efficacy  against  weaker  players.  If  a  girl  does 
not  understand  how  to  handle  a  chopped  or  twisted 
ball,  she  will  be  utterly  helpless,  and  the  chopper 
will  win  with  almost  ridiculous  ease.  Time  and 
again  I  have  seen  players  with  excellent  strokes,  but 
without  the  best  heads  in  the  world,  become  baffled 
and  panicky  before  the  cranky  kick  of  the  under- 
spinning  ball.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  spin  and  twist 
will  not  particularly  bother  a  first-class  player. 
Any  one  who  constantly  plays  net,  loves  to  take  the 
[88] 


Photograph  by  Edu-in  Lei-ick,  N.  Y. 

A  LOW  BACKHAND  VOLLEY  IN  MID  COURT 
Mrs.  George  W.  Wightman 


PUTTING  A  TWIST  ON  THE  BALL 
ball  with  an  underspin ;  the  base  liner  will  easily  man- 
age these  balls  by  watching  the  motion  of  the  rac- 
quet in  delivery  and  then  waiting  for  the  crankiness 
to  settle  out  after  the  bounce.  When  a  player  who 
relies  entirely  on  the  chop  finds  her  opponent  han- 
dling it  with  ease,  she  has  lost  the  match.  Tricks  are 
valuable  only  when  they  are  unexpected.  Once  they 
are  solved  in  advance,  they  are  no  longer  tricks. 
Patience  and  the  use  of  your  head  will  solve  the 
problem  of  nearly  every  twisting  ball.  Watch  your 
opponent's  racquet  to  learn  the  kind  of  ball  that  is 
coming — then  patiently  await  its  arrival.  Of  course 
this  patient  waiting  is  relative;  you  will  not  have 
time  to  saunter.  Get  to  the  spot  where  the  ball  is 
going  to  bounce  and  then  watchfully  await  the  ex- 
piring of  the  twist.  Running  into  or  smothering  a 
spinning  ball  is  fatal,  for  then  you  will  have  the  full 
force  of  the  spin  to  overcome  and  will  probably  mess 
up  the  return. 

I  have  never  used  the  chop  stroke  or  a  stroke  with 
an  excessive  top  spin.     I  do  not  know  how  to  play 

[89] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  EN 

them  and  I  do  not  care  to  learn.  Even  if  I  thought 
that  I  could  learn  these  strokes  without  weakening 
my  drive,  I  am  not  at  all  sure  that  I  should  go  to  the 
bother.  To  my  mind  they  do  not  pay.  I  consider 
tennis  a  hard-hitting,  placing  game  and  I  think  speed 
and  placement  must  eventually  win.  The  player 
with  a  great  repertoire  of  cuts  may  disconcert  an 
opponent  for  the  time  being,  but  so  would  a  server 
who  turned  a  somersault  on  her  delivery.  It  is  only 
the  novelty  of  the  thing  that  is  bothersome.  I  do 
not  consider  any  game  as  being  sound  which  is  based 
on  other  than  straight  tennis.  In  the  term  straight 
tennis,  I  include  a  moderate  amount  of  top  spin  be- 
cause the  top  spin  is  in  the  direction  of  the  flight  of 
the  ball  and  increases  rather  than  retards  speed,  and 
it  does  not  interfere  with  placement.  I  class  all 
strokes  as  good  which  make  for  speed  and  accuracy, 
and  I  class  all  strokes  as  bad  which  sacrifice  either 
speed  or  accuracy. 

Mrs.  Bundy's  game  is  a  splendid  example  of  first- 
class  tennis  based  solely  on  hard,  straight,  accurate 


PUTTING   A   TWIST   ON   THE   BALL 

driving.  Therefore,  although  I  must  include  a 
chapter  on  these  strokes,  in  order  to  make  this  book 
a  more  or  less  complete  survey  of  tennis,  I  do  not  tell 
of  them  because  I  think  they  are  good  tennis  or  be- 
cause I  know  anything  about  them.  I  present  them 
for  what  they  are  worth — and,  in  my  judgment,  they 
are  not  worth  much. 

/.  Do  not  let  temporary  success  with  lifting  strokes, 
chops,  or  twists,  unsettle  your  game.  If  you  find  these 
strokes  weaken  your  drives,  drop  them  at  once. 

2.  A  ball  always  twists  or  curves  in  the  direction 
opposite  from  that  of  the  racquet  in  striking  and  bounces 
in  the  same  direction  as  the  racquet. 

3.  Let  the  spin  die  out  of  heavily  cut  strokes  before 
you  return  them. 

4.  The  racquet  passing  up  and  over  the  ball  makes 
top  spin;  down  and  under  the  ball  gives  back  spin. 

5.  Top  spin  tends  to  bring  the  ball  down;  under  spin 
tends  to  keep  the  ball  horizontal  until  it  is  spent. 

6.  Keep  all  fancy  strokes — if  you  must  learn  them — 
for  emergencies;  do  not  adopt  them  as  a  style. 

[91] 


CHAPTER  VII 

PLAYING   THE   GAME — SINGLES 

A  GAME  of  tennis  is  not  a  mere  measuring  of 
the  brute  strength  and  speed  of  two  players, 
but  rather  a  measuring  of  heads.     You  get 
points  and  win  the  match  by  outwitting  your  op- 
ponent.    The  speed  and  the  strength  let  you  take 
advantage  of  the  openings  which  you  have  thought 
out. 

Put  a  hard  ball  to  the  place  where  your  ad- 
versary is  not — that  is  tennis.  And  I  think  this 
principle  is  best  worked  out  in  the  game  of  singles. 
Therefore  I  like  singles;  doubles  are  chummy  and 
they  are  not  nearly  such  hard  work  as  singles,  but  I 
hold  the  joy  of  purely  individual  combat  so  highly 
that  I  consider  singles  as  the  only  real  game  of  tennis. 
It  is  in  singles  that  one  can  work  out  plans  of  attack, 

[92] 


PLAYING      THE      GAME  —  SINGLES 

can  study  the  weaknesses  of  the  opponent,  can 
scheme  to  outwit,  and  then  can  execute  the  plans 
without  the  factor  of  a  partner  or  an  opponent's 
partner.  It  is  wit  versus  wit,  strength  and  speed 
versus  strength  and  speed.  You  are  equally  respon- 
sible for  your  errors  and  your  aces.  Singles  is  the 
self-reliant  game  which  brings  out  all  that  is  in  you, 
and  I  take  it  to  be  tennis.  Doubles  has  none  of 
these  fascinating  individual  qualities. 

I  suppose  that  games  and  even  matches  may  be 
won  by  playing  for  your  opponent  to  make  errors.  I 
prefer  the  positive  game  in  which  you  do  the  scoring 
instead  of  trusting  to  errors  from  the  other  side  of  the 
net.  One  can  never  go  far  with  the  negative  game; 
you  cannot  always  take  for  granted  that  the  oppo- 
nent will  net  or  out  when  goaded  to  frenzy  by  your 
inevitable,  even  easy,  returns.  It  is  a  poor  sort  of  a 
style  to  fall  into.  I  always  take  the  game  to  my 
opponent.  Attack,  attack,  attack! 

The  original  attack  is  with  the  server;  the  server 
has  the  advantage  of  placing  the  first  stroke.  This 

[93] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

is  an  advantage  of  no  little  moment,  and  it  is  not  to 
be  thrown  away  by  a  heedless  service.  The  service 
gives  you  the  jump,  and  it  is  up  to  you  to  keep  that 
jump  until  you  have  scored  the  point. 

Make  your  attack  everything  which  the  word 
means — go  fiercely  for  the  point  from  the  very  second 
that  the  ball  leaves  your  racquet  on  service.  It  does 
not  mean  much  to  lose  a  game  on  the  opponent's 
service,  but  to  lose  your  own  service  means  the  loss 
of  the  set,  unless  you  can  break  through  a  service  on 
your  own  account.  It  is  far  easier  to  win  your  own 
service  than  to  break  through  another's.  You  have 
been  given  the  mastery  for  the  first  stroke  and  it  is 
your  business  to  keep  it. 

Press  your  opponent  from  start  to  finish.  Of 
course  you  are  not  to  become  wild  and  excited,  but 
you  will  try  to  make  the  other  girl  wild  and  excited. 
It  is  surprising  what  may  be  accomplished  by  well- 
directed,  ceaseless  energy. 

As  part  of  the  energetic  game,  the  ball  is  always  to 
be  hit  hard  and  deep;  my  favorite  spots  are  the 

[94] 


PLAYING      THE      GAME  —  SINGLES 

corners  of  the  court.  Drive  every  ball  with  all  your 
might  in  an  effort  to  make  your  opponent  run  to  and 
fro  across  the  court;  once  you  have  her  so  travelling, 
the  'point  is  only  a  question  of  time.  A  cross-court 
shot,  a  sharp  volley,  or  a  smash  is  sure  to  be  offered 
for  the  point.  You  will  vary  your  attack  according 
to  circumstances,  but,  in  general,  I  try  to  command 
the  ball  and  press  the  game  from  start  to  finish.  If 
you  get  the  game  started  with  a  good  service  in  the 
right  place,  you  will  be  in  position  to  take  the  logical 
return  of  the  stroke  with  a  swift  drive,  and  once  you 
have  made  your  first  drive,  you  ought  to  be  able, 
barring  accidents,  to  control  the  game. 

I  recommend  hard  driving  and  pressing;  these  are 
relative  terms.  You  will  not  drive  beyond  your 
accuracy  and  you  will  not  press  beyond  your  ca- 
pacity. The  beginner  will  wisely  confine  herself  well 
within  her  limits.  The  eventual  objective  is  the 
whirlwind  attack,  but  it  must  be  worked  up  to  by 
easy  stages. 

You  must  adopt  some  basic  style  of  play — be 

[95] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

either  a  base-liner  or  a  volleyer.  I  do  not  say  that  it 
is  not  well  to  know  both  styles  thoroughly,  but  I 
hardly  believe  such  proficiency  is  attainable.  You 
will  inevitably  go  to  one  or  the  other  of  the  styles,  and 
it  is  well  to  decide  definitely  at  the  outset;  then  you 
can  later  make  such  changes  as  may  seem  advisable. 

I  favor  base-line  play  for  women. 

I  take  my  position  after  service  or  after  the  return 
of  a  service,  back  of  the  central  point  of  the  base  line. 
This  is  the  commanding  position  of  the  court  and 
should  be  taken  after  every  stroke;  if  you  regain  that 
place,  you  will  not  easily  lend  yourself  to  your  op- 
ponent's scheme  to  tie  you  up  in  a  corner  of  the  court. 

Playing  from  the  base  line,  you  will  drive  every 
return  and  endeavor  to  either  draw  your  opponent  in 
or  force  her  to  a  side  line  so  that  you  can  put  the  ball 
out  of  her  reach.  For  instance,  drive  first  to  her 
backhand  line  and  then  drive  her  return  to  her  fore- 
hand line;  keep  alternating  your  returns. 

If  a  return  comes  forward  feebly,  run  to  the  net  for 
a  smash  or  a  quick  cross-court  volley.  Adjust  your 


PLAYING      THE      GAME  —  SINGLES 

play  to  the  position  of  your  opponent  and  always 
drive  hard. 

The  back-court  game  presumes  an  ability  to  drive 
hard  and  low;  if  you  keep  position,  you  will  have 
time  to  drive  effectively;  the  more  speed  you  put  into 
these  drives,  the  harder  will  be  the  work  of  your  op- 
ponent. You  are  certain  to  get  openings  which  will 
enable  a  point  to  be  won  in  a  stroke  or  two. 

While  you  are  playing  to  get  your  opponent  out  of 
position,  she  is  likewise  playing  to  dislodge  you. 
Your  success  depends  upon  your  ability  to  reach 
position  after  each  stroke.  Therefore  do  not  wait 
around  to  see  how  your  ball  makes  out;  go  back  to 
position  unless  you  have  your  opponent  in  such 
trouble  that  a  trip  to  the  net  is  demanded.  Above 
all  things  do  not  let  yourself  be  drawn  into  mid- 
court;  a  player  at  the  service  line  is  lost.  A  drive 
may  be  put  down  either  line  or  the  ball  may  be 
swiftly  returned  directly  at  the  trapped  player.  The 
safe  position  is  back  of  the  base  line;  it  is  easy  to  run 
forward  but  very  difficult  to  run  back. 

[97] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

The  base-line  game  is  not  so  spectacular  as  the  net 
game,  but  it  is  very  effective  when  well  played ;  and  it 
requires  less  skill  and  activity  than  the  net  game. 
Patience  and  hard,  accurate  driving  are  the  requisites 
of  the  base-line  style. 

I  am  opposed  to  women  playing  an  exclusively  net 
game,  yet  I  realize  the  great  value  of  an  ability  to  go 
to  the  net  and  volley  through  a  game  or  two.  I 
refer  to  singles;  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  play  net 
in  doubles. 

It  is  foolish  for  a  girl  to  rush  to  the  net  on  her 
service,  because  her  delivery  is  never  so  severe  as  to 
make  a  careful  return  impossible;  and  if  the  striker 
can  handle  the  service,  she  will  pass  the  net  player 
more  often  than  not.  I  have  yet  to  find  the  woman 
who  is  fast  enough  to  cover  the  whole  width  of  the 
court  against  a  hard,  accurate  driver. 

I  did  not  play  much  at  the  net  before  coming  to  the 

United  States — the  girls  abroad  depend  upon  hard 

driving  from  the  base  line.     I  find  a  knowledge  of  net 

play  helps  my  game,  but  I  notice  too  many  girls  who 

[98] 


PLAYING      THE      GAME  —  SINGLES 

think  that  they  can  always  play  net.  Undoubtedly 
it  is  great  fun  to  play  net,  but  it  is  a  dangerous  style. 

I  favor  going  to  the  net  when  you  have  put  your 
opponent  into  difficulties;  for  instance,  if  you  have 
got  her  running  across  the  court  chasing  your  side- 
line drives  and  she  is  returning  them  very  weakly, 
you  can  take  the  net  to  score.  Sometimes  the 
opponent's  play  is  hard  to  handle  in  the  back  court 
because  the  ball  twists  and  bounds  strangely;  in  such 
case,  a  season  at  the  net  will  surely  disconcert  her,  for 
the  average  cutting,  chopping  game  succumbs  to  the 
volley.  The  style  is  also  useful  as  a  change  when  you 
find  your  drives  are  not  coming  off  as  they  should. 
When  to  play  net  and  when  to  stay  back  depends 
upon  circumstances,  but  never  go  to  the  net  without 
a  definite  purpose;  some  players  reach  the  net  simply 
because  they  have  been  told  it  is  the  thing  to  do — 
and  they  lose  points. 

If  you  do  play  net,  stand  as  close  to  the  net  as  you 
can  without  hitting  your  racquet  over  it;  if  the  rac- 
quet crosses  the  net  to  hit  a  return,  the  point  belongs 

[99] 


TENNIS       FOR      WOMEN 

to  your  opponent.  Being  close  to  the  net  makes  all 
of  your  volleys  much  easier  and  surer  than  they 
would  be  from  mid-court. 

To  go  back  to  the  beginning  of  a  game  in  singles : 
Suppose  you  have  the  first  service — your  problem  is 
not  simply  to  put  a  ball  over  the  net  and  into  the 
service  court;  every  ball  you  hit  in  tennis  should  be 
aimed  at  a  definite  spot.  Therefore  you  must  place 
your  service — pick  out  a  place,  and  aim  at  it.  You 
may  not  hit  the  intended  spot  on  every  stroke,  but 
you  must  at  least  try  so  to  do. 

If  your  opponent  is  weak  on  her  backhand,  give 
her  the  service  on  her  backhand;  perhaps  she  will 
run  around  the  service  to  take  it  on  the  forehand. 
Then  a  service  to  the  forehand  may  bring  an  ace. 
Mix  up  your  services  so  that  you  will  always  give  the 
unexpected  ball;  once  you  find  your  opponent  making 
ready  for  a  certain  kind  of  ball,  serve  another  kind. 
When  you  find  her  equally  strong  forehand  and  back- 
hand, serve  down  the  centre  of  the  court;  she  will  re- 
turn this  ball  and  you  will  have  scarcely  any  chance 
f  ioo  1 


Photograph  by  Edzvin  Levick,  N.  Y 
A  FOREHAND  VOLLEY  NEAR  THE  NET 
Mrs.  George  W.  Wightman 


PLAYING      THE      GAME  — '  5"  F  N  G  L  E  S 

for  a  service  ace,  but  she  is  bound  to  return  it  to  the 
centre  of  your  court,  and  thus  you  have  full  oppor- 
tunity to  make  your  own  return  and  to  set  into 
motion  any  scheme  for  the  point  which  you  have 
evolved. 

The  service  is  highly  important,  but  remember  it  is 
only  the  first  stroke  of  the  game;  you  do  not  win  or 
lose  the  ace  on  it,  and  you  should  not  serve  as  though 
service  aces  were  the  only  aces  to  be  had  in  the  game. 
Therefore  you  will  depend  on  accuracy  more  than 
upon  speed;  undue  speed  will  likely  tire  you  for  the 
strokes  following.  As  I  said  in  the  chapter  on  the 
service,  speed  is  very  desirable  in  the  service,  al- 
though I  think,  if  one  must  choose,  that  speed  in  the 
drives  will  gain  more  than  speed  in  the  service;  but 
the  speed  must  be  watched  so  that  it  affects  neither 
your  accuracy  nor  your  strength. 

The  best  place  to  stand  for  the  service  is  near  the 
middle  of  the  base  line  just  far  enough  back  and  to 
one  side  to  avoid  making  a  foot-fault.  Mrs.  Bundy 
formerly  stood  so  near  the  centre  that  she  had  faults 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

called  on  her  for  serving  from  the  wrong  court;  it  is 
not  worth  while  to  cut  the  distance  quite  so  finely  as 
this. 

Serve  to  the  weakness  of  your  opponent;  play  to 
the  weakness  of  your  opponent;  always  hammer  the 
weakness.  Usually  the  weakness  is  backhand,  but 
sometimes  the  weakness  is  on  the  forehand.  Out  in 
California  Mrs.  Bundy  played  my  forehand  in 
preference  to  my  backhand.  If  your  opponent  likes 
a  high-bouncing  ball,  give  her  low  ones,  and  vice 
versa.  If  she  is  poor  at  the  net  but  will  come  for- 
ward, lure  her  forward  and  then  pass  her  with  a  sharp 
drive.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  she  is  strong  at  the  net, 
as  are  Mrs.  Wightman  and  Miss  Browne,  keep  her 
in  the  back  of  the  court  by  hard,  deep  drives  to  the 
corners.  And  when  you  have  so  played  upon  her 
weakness  that  your  opponent  expects  the  return  to 
come  to  her  weak  spot,  try  a  return  to  her  strength. 

Whenever  you  find  your  opponent  expecting  any 
particular  kind  of  stroke,  when  you  find  her  poised  to 
meet  that  sort  of  stroke,  give  her  something  else. 
[  102] 


PLAYING      THE      GAME  —  SINGLES 

These  quick  changes  are  wonderful  ace  getters.  It  is 
the  unexpected  that  wins  in  tennis. 

To  deliver  the  unexpected  you  must  be  thinking  a 
little  ahead  of  your  opponent;  you  must  be  thinking 
just  enough  ahead  to  anticipate  her.  If  she  has 
certain  favorite  returns,  for  instance  if  she  usually 
makes  a  cross-court  return  from  her  backhand, 
you  will  be  ready  for  such  a  return,  but  not  so 
"ready"  that  another  return  will  find  you  off  bal- 
ance. 

Above  all  things  avoid  being  caught  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  service  line;  and,  by  the  same  token,  try  to  get 
your  opponent  into  that  position.  It  is  a  fatal 
position;  you  are  too  far  away  from  the  net  to  volley 
with  any  precision.  It  will  be  luck  if  you  make  a 
return  at  all,  and  if  you  do  make  a  return,  it  will 
probably  be  feeble  and  easily  killed.  A  proficiency 
in  the  half-volley  is  very  useful  here,  but  it  is  far 
better  to  keep  out  of  the  position. 

In  receiving  service  do  not  let  yourself  be  worried 
by  the  antics  of  the  ball.  Often  a  girl  will  have  a 
[103] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

splendid  service;  your  every  effort  to  return  it  results 
in  failure. 

Here  is  where  you  must  have  nerve;  study  the  serv- 
ice; find  out  where  you  err.  Then  act  on  the  re- 
sults of  your  observations.  Remember  that,  if  you 
can  win  your  own  service,  your  inability  to  handle 
your  opponent's  ball  means  nothing  more  than  that 
you  will  have  a  hard  game  of  it.  I  have  often  been 
baffled  by  swift,  breaking  services,  but  I  have  always 
found  a  solution;  sometimes  my  opponent's  strength 
gives  out  in  the  second  set.  This  is  nearly  always 
the  case  with  girls  that  affect  the  very  hard  complex 
service. 

Take  a  position  to  receive  service  well  behind  the 
base  line  from  whence  you  can  command  either  line 
of  the  service  court.  If  you  stand  too  far  at  either 
side  it  will  be  difficult  to  reach  a  swift  ball  cutting  the 
far  line,  and  that  is  where  a  clever  server  will  give 
you  the  ball.  The  strength  of  your  backhand  more 
or  less  determines  your  position,  and  in  any  event 
you  will  try  to  return  with  a  forehand  drive.  The 
[  104] 


PLAYING      THE      GAME  —  SINGLES 
cultivation  of  a  good  backhand  makes  it  doubly 
difficult  for  the  server  to  put  the  ball  out  of  reach. 

Services  which  have  spins  and  break  right  or  left 
are  hard  to  handle,  because  the  ball  will  not  leave 
your  racquet  true,  but  most  of  these  services  will 
respond  to  careful  timing;  you  may  have  to  experi- 
ment as  to  the  best  way  of  hitting,  and  in  the  course  of 
your  experiments  you  may  lose  the  set,  but  it  will  be 
time  well  spent  if  you  master  the  service. 

Return  the  service  to  a  position.  If  the  server  is 
far  to  one  side  of  the  court  send  the  ball  to  the  other 
side  line  or  across  court;  if  she  starts  to  run  across 
court  at  the  moment  of  delivery,  place  a  shot  in  the 
direction  opposite  to  which  she  is  moving.  If  she 
comes  to  the  net  on  her  service,  try  a  cross-court  ball 
or  lob  over  her  head.  I  find  that  I  can  usually  drive 
past  the  girl  rushing  to  the  net  and  that  it  is  not 
necessary  to  lob. 

Keep  your  eye  on  the  ball  every  second ;  watch  the 
racquet  on  the  service,  watch  the  direction,  and  thus 
be  ready  when  the  ball  arrives. 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

Your  scheme  of  game  depends  largely  upon  the 
play  of  the  server.  It  is  easy  enough  to  handle  the 
few  girls  who  come  to  the  net  on  service;  if  the  service 
be  swift,  they  will  not  reach  a  good  net  position  be- 
fore you  have  the  return  whizzing  back,  especially  if 
you  take  the  service  on  the  upward  bounce.  If  the 
service  be  slow  and  she  comes  in,  you  have  every 
chance  to  pass  her  with  a  strong,  well-placed  drive. 
Girls  never  cover  the  whole  net. 

Watch  carefully  against  the  plays  that  are  de- 
signed to  lead  you  into  a  position  where  a  cross-court 
return  may  be  put  out  of  your  reach.  Instantly  re- 
turning to  position  is  the  safe  defence,  for  then  you 
have  the  court  well  in  hand.  If  the  ball  bounces  so 
that  you  must  go  far  beyond  the  side  line  for  the  re- 
turn, you  had  best  lob  the  return  or  make  a  slow 
stroke,  which  will  give  you  time  to  reach  position 
before  the  ball  can  come  across  again.  In  such  case 
your  return  is  purely  defensive  and  your  scheme  will 
be  to  play  for  time. 

The  server  has  the  whiphand  for  the  moment  and 
[106] 


PLAYING      THE      GAME  —  SINGLES 

you  must  avoid  her  traps;  if  she  volleys  well,  keep 
her  away  from  the  net;  if  she  smashes  strongly,  shun 
the  short  lobs,  and  attempt  the  deep  ones  only  when 
in  the  direst  straits. 

Quick  returning  will  do  much  to  change  your  game 
from  the  defensive  to  the  offensive,  and  the  greatest 
aid  to  the  quick  return  is  to  meet  the  ball  as  it  rises. 
I  cannot  understand  why  more  American  girls  do  not 
try  this  method;  it  is  almost  universal  abroad. 

If  you  are  on  the  defensive  and  hard  put  to  it,  have 
patience  and  do  not  attempt  to  turn  the  tables  too 
soon.  It  is  far  better  to  take  one's  time  and  work 
around  into  position  than  to  give  way  to  a  desperate 
desire  to  unexpectedly  score  from  adversity.  But  if 
the  chances  are  that  the  safe  play  will  give  an  easy  point 
to  the  other  side,  try  any  bold  effort.  Make  or  break. 

The  greatest  aid  to  a  proper  defence  is  the  ability 
to  know  where  the  next  ball  is  coming.  Therefore 
never  take  your  eye  off  the  ball.  Watch  the  ball! 

I  hope  that  I  have  made  it  quite  plain  that  general- 
ship— quick,  intelligent  thinking — makes  up  a  big 


TENNIS       FOR      WOMEN 

portion  of  the  game  of  tennis.  Suppose  a  girl  is  very 
strong  on  the  forehand  and  weak  on  the  backhand, 
you  might  hammer  at  her  forehand  indefinitely 
without  result.  Such  a  girl  will  stand  to  the  left  of 
the  court  to  protect  her  weak  backhand.  Play  a 
ball  far  over  to  her  right,  make  her  run  for  it,  then 
you  have  her  at  the  right  of  the  court  with  her  whole 
backhand  open  to  a  drive  for  the  ace.  This  is  a  very 
simple  example  of  what  generalship  means  to  the 
game.  But  how  hard  it  would  be  to  win  that  point 
if  you  did  not  entice  that  girl  to  a  position  where  she 
had  to  uncover  her  weak  stroke! 

The  object  of  all  generalship  is  to  bring  your  op- 
ponent to  such  a  position  that  it  is  either  very  diffi- 
cult for  her  to  reach  the  ball  at  all  or  she  is  forced  to 
play  it  with  her  weakest  stroke.  Every  player  has 
some  weak  points,  but  if  those  weak  points  do  not  un- 
cover readily,  your  generalship  may  be  to  keep  her 
running  until  she  is  exhausted,  when  you  can  win 
with  ease.  I  have  won  from  Mrs.  Wight  man  by  out- 
lasting her  and  not  by  outplaying  her. 
f  io81 


PLAYING      THE      GAME  —  SINGLES 

An  inexperienced  player  will  often  wonder  why  the 
good  player  is  so  seldom  caught  far  from  the  point 
where  the  return  hits  the  court.  Where  one  player 
will  be  rushing  wildly  across  the  court,  another  will 
be  on  the  spot  calmly  waiting  for  ball.  The  reason 
why  the  one  player  is  unready  and  the  other  is  ready 
is  because  the  first  has  used  only  her  racquet,  while 
the  second  has  used  also  her  head.  The  finest  ex- 
ecution of  strokes  in  the  world  will  not  avail  if 
the  brain  is  not  behind  the  strokes;  the  first  evi- 
dence of  brain  is  judging  where  the  ball  is  going  to 
land. 

Judgment  of  the  ball  is  a  kind  of  instinct  with  some 
players,  but  it  is  a  faculty  which  may  be  acquired  by 
any  girl  if  she  will  always  keep  her  eye  on  the  ball  and 
associate  the  position  of  the  opponent's  racquet  with 
the  flight.  I  can  determine  nearly  the  exact  spot 
where  a  ball  will  touch  the  court  from  the  moment  it 
is  hit,  and  hence  I  have  time  to  reach  that  part  of  the 
court  and  prepare  for  my  return  strokes.  With 
practice  one  makes  this  judgment  without  con- 
[  109] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  E  N 

scious  effort,  but  the  judgment  is  founded  on  keeping 
the  eye  on  the  ball. 

Some  players  of  exceptional  cleverness  will  succeed 
in  so  masking  their  strokes  that  they  will  fool  you  as 
to  place,  but  this  seldom  occurs  if  you  watch  the 
ball  start  in  its  flight  instead  of  making  your  determi- 
nation from  the  position  of  the  racquet  just  before 
impact. 

Your  every  stroke  must  have  an  object;  a  wild  re- 
turn is  little  better  than  a  complete  miss,  for  it  is  sure 
to  give  an  opening  to  the  opponent.  I  have  pre- 
viously advised  playing  a  system  founded  on  your 
opponent's  weakness  and  your  own  strength,  but  in 
the  use  of  this  system  quick  thinking  is  necessary. 
If  you  always  do  a  certain  thing  in  a  certain  way,  a 
clever  opponent  will  know  what  to  expect;  if  you 
keep  your  eyes  open  you  can  often  tell  what  she  ex- 
pects you  to  do — then  do  something  else.  Never 
make  the  obvious  and  expected  stroke  if  you  can  gain 
by  a  surprise  play.  The  quick  sizing  up  of  situations 
wins  matches. 

[no] 


PLAYING      THE      GAME  —  SINGLES 

An  entire  change  of  style  upsets  your  opponent's 
plans,  and  instant  shifts  and  changes  are  to  be  made 
only  when  you  think  quickly. 

/.     Keep  your  eye  on  the  ball. 

2.  Play  to  the  weakness  of  your  opponent. 

3.  Press  the  attack  and  command  the  ball;  do  not 
play  a  negative  game. 

4.  Be  accurate. 

5.  Hit  as  bard  as  you  can  without  a  sacrifice  oj 
accuracy. 

6.  Think  a  stroke  ahead;  play  with  your  head  as  well 
as  your  racquet. 

7.  Have  always  a  scheme  of  play;  make  your 
strokes  part  of  your  scheme. 

8.  Try  to  make  the  unexpected  stroke. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PLAYING  THE  GAME — MIXED  DOUBLES  AND  WOMEN'S 
DOUBLES 

PLAY  in  doubles  is  very  different  from  play  in 
singles;  the  whole  foundation  of  the  game  is 
changed,  because  two  players  on  a  side  cover 
the  court  so  much  more  completely  than  one  player. 
The  ordinary  strategy  of  singles  does  not  apply;  it 
is  very  difficult  to  manoeuvre  two  players  so  out  of 
position  that  an  opening  may  be  had  for  a  clean  ace. 
An  ability  to  volley  and  to  lob  is  essential  for  any 
player  who  expects  to  do  anything  in  doubles.    The 
command  of  the  net  is  of  supreme  importance;  the 
points  are  scored  from  the  net  where  an  opening  may 
quickly  be  taken  advantage  of.     The  drives  give  so 
much  time  that  one  or  the  other  of  the  opponents  is 
bound  to  be  in  position  for  the  return.    Therefore 


PLAYING      THE      GAME — DOUBLES 

you  must  play  net,  and,  as  a  corollary,  you  must  lob 
to  dislodge  your  opponents  from  the  net. 

You  must  bear  in  mind  that  doubles  and  singles, 
although  both  are  tennis,  are  not  the  same  game. 
Many  a  good  singles  player  is  extremely  poor  in 
doubles,  while  some  of  the  best  women  partners  in 
doubles  do  not  show  up  well  playing  alone.  My 
game  is  essentially  a  driving  game;  I  seldom  volley 
and  very  seldom  lob.  In  doubles  my  drive  is  not  of 
much  use — especially  in  mixed  doubles — and  hence 
I  play  doubles  remarkably  badly.  And  then,  again, 
I  do  not  like  the  game.  The  best  partners  in  doubles 
are  Mrs.  Wightman,  Miss  Mary  Browne,  and  Miss 
Eleanora  Sears,  because  they  all  volley  splendidly, 
and,  not  being  compelled  to  run  about  as  much  as  in 
singles,  are  able  to  endure  through  a  championship 
match. 

Next  in  importance  to  the  volley  and  the  lob  in 
doubles  is  the  service.  I  have  said  that  a  very  swift 
service  does  not  pay  in  singles,  but  it  is  quite  other- 
wise in  doubles.  A  swift  service,  being  harder  to  re- 


TENNIS  FOR  WOM  EN 
turn,  gives  one's  partner  a  chance  to  volley  the  return 
for  the  ace.  A  weaker  service  gives  the  opponent 
too  much  chance  to  drive  or  to  lob.  Thus  it  is  very 
important  to  get  your  first  service  over  as  hard  and 
fast  as  you  can.  Put  all  that  strength  which  you 
would  husband  in  singles  into  the  service  in  doubles. 
Get  your  first  service  over.  The  tricks  of  service 
which  are  so  useful  in  singles  will  not  much  avail  in 
doubles;  it  is  more  important  to  make  sure  that  the 
return  comes  within  striking  distance  of  your  partner 
at  the  net.  The  best  assurance  of  such  a  return  will 
be  found  in  directing  the  service  down  the  centre  line. 
You  are  playing  for  a  kill  by  your  partner  and  not  for 
a  service  ace. 

Every  doubles  team  should  plan  its  campaign  be- 
fore the  match  opens.  A  few  practice  sets  together 
will  help  wonderfully;  the  more  you  play  together 
the  better  will  be  your  teamwork,  but  it  so  happens 
that  doubles  pairs  are  often  scratch  affairs  and  that 
little  or  no  practice  is  taken  together  before  the 
match.  I  do  not  recall  ever  having  seriously  gone 


Photograph  by  Edwin  Levick,  N.  Y. 
SERVICE  OF  MISS  MARY  BROWNE 


PLAYING      THE      GAME — DOUBLES 

into  practice  for  doubles;  it  would  pay.  Several 
teams  made  up  of  only  average  players  have  suc- 
ceeded extremely  well  because  they  practised  faith- 
fully and  built  up  a  composite  game.  If  you  care  for 
doubles,  by  all  means  build  up  a  game.  The  stand- 
ard of  team  play  in  women's  doubles  and  in  mixed 
doubles  is  very  low  in  the  United  States,  and  any 
pair  of  slightly  more  than  average  ability  could,  by 
faithful  practice,  sweep  the  championships. 

The  doubles  game  differs  fundamentally  from  the 
singles  game  to  start  with,  and  when  we  come  into 
doubles  we  find  that  mixed  doubles  and  women's 
doubles  are  also  different  varieties  of  games.  The 
essential  difference  between  the  two  kinds  of  doubles 
is  founded  upon  the  fact  that  in  women's  doubles  the 
partners  are  approximately  equal,  while  in  mixed 
doubles  your  male  partner  will  be  a  considerably 
better  player  than  you  and  much  more  capable  of 
winning  points. 

In  choosing  a  partner  for  mixed  doubles  do  not 
merely  get  the  best  player  that  you  can  find:  choose 

[115] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

a  player  who  will  fit  into  your  game,  who  will  be 
strongest  where  you  are  weakest;  and,  other  things 
being  equal,  take  a  man  who  has  a  strong  service  and 
who  can  volley.  Then  settle  upon  a  style  of  play. 

In  most  good  combinations  the  object  is  to  keep 
the  woman  up  at  the  net  as  much  as  possible.  She 
can  then  cover  a  small  section  of  the  net,  and  the 
more  active  man  can  cover  the  remaining  portion  of 
the  net  as  well  as  run  back  for  the  lobs.  When  the 
man  is  serving,  the  woman  takes  her  place  at  the  net 
and  stays  there,  carefully  watching  her  alley.  When 
the  woman  serves,  the  problem  is  somewhat  harder, 
because  few  women  can  reach  the  net  on  their  own 
service.  In  such  a  case,  the  woman  goes  forward  at 
the  first  available  opportunity,  in  the  meantime 
covering  the  back  court  and  watching  vigilantly  lest 
the  opponents  shoot  a  ball  across  court  through  the 
big  "hole"  which  is  thus  left  open. 

When  receiving  service,  both  players  are  behind 
the  base  line;  they  go  forward  and  back  together  as 
the  play  demands.  There  are  several  ways  of 

rue] 


PLAYING      THE'GAME — DOUBLES 

playing  the  game,  but  the  style  with  both  players  at 
the  net  as  much  as  possible  seems  to  be  the  most 
effective. 
Three  points  should  always  be  settled  upon: 

1 .  That  if  the  man,  on  the  woman's  service,  de- 
cides to  cross  the  net  from  one  side  to  the  other,  the 
woman  should  move  across  court  in  the  opposite  di- 
rection to  cover  court. 

2.  Whether  or  not  the  girl  should  take  the  deep 
lobs. 

3.  Who  should  take  the  balls  which  fall  in  the 
centre  of  the  court  and  are.  equally  available  for 
either  player.     In  such  case  it  is  best  to  let  the  man 
have  them  because  he  is  the  stronger  player. 

Mixed  doubles  are  faster  and  therefore  are  much 
better  fun  than  women's  doubles.  There  seems  to  be 
an  idea  that  the  woman  should  be  spared  in  mixed 
doubles — that  chivalry  demands  the  hard  returns  be 
directed  toward  the  man.  This  is  a  foolish  idea  and 
it  does  not  work  out  in  tournament  play.  In  all  the 
tournaments  which  I  have  played  in  mixed  doubles, 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

the  girl  has  always  been  selected  as  the  target  in 
precisely  the  way  that  you  would  select  any  weak 
spot  in  an  opponent's  game.  I  think  this  is  much  the 
better  way.  It  is  considerably  more  fun,  and  any 
girl  who  is  afraid  to  handle  the  smashes,  or  to  re- 
ceive the  "cannon  ball"  service,  had  best  stay  out  of 
mixed  doubles. 

The  plan  of  campaign  in  mixed  doubles  is  some- 
what different  from  that  in  women's  doubles.  Your 
male  partner  will  usually  be  a  better  player  than 
you  are,  and,  when  it  is  doubtful  who  should  take  the 
ball,  you  will  let  him  take  it.  Of  course,  you  will 
hardly  select  a  male  partner  who  is  weaker  than 
yourself. 

If  you  can  play  net,  take  that  position  when  your 
partner  serves,  but  if  you  are  very  weak  at  the  net 
and  strong  on  ground  strokes,  play  back  of  the  base 
line  and  go  to  the  net  only  when  the  man  goes.  It 
is  very  important  that  you  work  in  unison,  but  in  ex- 
ceptional cases  this  may  be  varied. 

You  will  need  more  practice  in  a  mixed  doubles 
f  n81 


PLAYING      THE      GAME — DOUBLES 

team  than  in  women's  doubles,  because  the  tendency 
of  your  male  partner  will  be  to  take  returns  that 
ought  to  be  yours;  he  can  cover  more  of  the  court 
than  you  can.  You  will  have  to  determine,  by 
actual  play,  the  regions  in  which  each  is  to  be 
supreme.  A  little  practice  in  this  respect  will  vastly 
improve  the  strength  of  the  team. 

The  woman's  work  is  to  feed  kills  to  her  partner; 
all  her  returns  should  be  with  the  return  to  her  part- 
ner in  mind.  Thus  she  sinks  her  individuality  and 
sacrifices  every  risky  scoring  chance  in  order  to  give 
her  partner  a  better  scoring  chance.  Your  partner 
is  expected  to  win  his  service,  and  thus  the  match 
really  turns  on  whether  you  can  hold  up  your  end  in 
the  service. 

Selecting  a  partner  for  women's  doubles  is  half  the 
game,  and,  in  many  respects,  the  hardest  part  of  the 
game.  You  will  not  only  desire  a  girl  who  plays 
approximately  as  well  as  you  do,  but  also  one  with  a 
fairly  compatible  temperament.  Nothing  is  more 
disagreeable  than  to  pair  with  a  girl  who  is  con- 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 
tinually  making  excuses,  shifting  blame,  or  shirking 
her  work. 

A  match  in  doubles  is  not  merely  played  by  four 
players  arranged  two  on  each  side  of  the  net;  it  is  a 
match  between  teams  of  two  players  each.  One  will 
not  get  very  far  in  doubles  unless  she  is  content  to 
sink  her  individuality  and  play  for  the  side.  There- 
fore, shun  the  girl  who  is  always  rushing  to  make 
grand-stand  plays  which  probably  leave  her  out  of 
position  and  give  the  next  point  easily  to  the  op- 
ponents. "  Poaching"  is  one  of  my  depraved  ten- 
dencies. 

Many  players  choose  a  partner  because  her  game 
happens  to  be  a  complement;  that  is,  a  girl  who  is 
strong  at  the  net  will  frequently  choose  a  good  back- 
court  player  as  a  partner,  and  vice  versa.  This  is  on 
the  theory  that  one  may  look  after  the  net  and  the 
other  the  back  court,  but  I  do  not  favor  this  sort  of 
team.  It  may  give  one  girl  much  more  than  she  can 
properly  attend  to,  while  the  other  girl  may  be  idle. 

In  the  style  of  play  which  I  like  best,  both  players 

[120] 


PLAYING      THE      GAME — DOUBLES 

are  fairly  equal  and  play  the  same  sort  of  a  game. 
On  service  you  will  put  your  partner  at  the  net  and 
then  work  up  to  the  net  yourself  when  the  chance 
offers.  She  will  care  for  her  alley  and  the  low  returns 
on  her  side  of  the  net.  Thus  you  force  the  returns  to 
a  point  where  you  can  drive  back  and  reach  the  net 
yourself.  I  do  not  think  it  advisable  either  in 
doubles  or  singles  for  the  server  to  go  up  with  the 
service. 

When  receiving,  both  girls  should  stand  back  of 
the  base  line,  and  if  the  return  drive  gives  a  chance 
for  the  net,  then  take  the  net  together.  In  the  same 
way,  they  should  both  go  back  together.  Thus 
the  chances  for  a  sharp  cross-court  opening  for  a 
point  are  minimized.  A  high  lob,  over  the  opponent 
at  the  net,  deep  into  the  corner  is  a  very  useful  re- 
turn; often  the  next  stroke  gives  you  a  chance  for  a 
kill. 

Do  not  steal  your  opponent's  returns  on  the 
theory  that  you  can  play  them  more  effectively — 
unless  these  plays  are  a  part  of  your  prearranged 

[121] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

plan.  Usually  you  will  have  work  enough  looking 
after  your  own  legitimate  returns. 

Having  two  opponents  makes  it  harder  to  find  an 
opening,  and  you  will  watch  to  make  returns  to  the 
corners  of  the  alleys  or  across  court  between  the 
players;  and  you  will  also  watch  that  your  opponents 
do  not  get  such  shots  across  on  you.  When  in  doubt, 
drive  down  the  centre  line,  and  always  drive  hard  and 
deep. 

The  old  driving  game  in  women's  doubles  still 
obtains  in  some  quarters;  it  is  played  frequently 
abroad,  where  the  girls  are  often  afraid  to  volley.  In 
that  game  all  four  players  stand  back  of  the  base  line 
and  drive  until  some  one  nets  the  ball  or  makes  an  out. 
It  is  an  interminable  game  of  the  dreariest  possible 
character  and  has  done  much  to  make  doubles  un- 
popular. It  is  a  game  which  cannot  stand  up  for  a 
moment  against  the  volley  style. 

I  must  give  one  caution  about  playing  doubles :  do 
not  play  in  teams  just  because  you  find  the  game  less 
exertion.  Unless  you  develop  your  game  in  singles 
[  122  ] 


PLAYING     THE     GAM  E — D  O  U  B  L  E  S 

you  will  never  reach  the  proper  tennis  development. 
Your  aim  should  be  an  all-around  game  and  not  the 
lopsided  game  which  too  much  doubles  playing  will 
bring  to  you. 

/.     Volley  and  lob  in  doubles. 

2.  Make  your  fir  si  service  as  hard  as  you  can. 

3.  Plan  your  campaign  before  the  match  he  gins. 

4.  Subordinate   yourself   to    the    man    in   mixed 
doubles. 

5.  Never  poach  on  your  partner's  territory. 


[123] 


CHAPTER  IX 

AT  THE  TOP  OF  ONE'S  GAME 

YU  are  bound,  no  matter  how  well  you  play, 
;o  have  an  off  day,  now  and  again;  if  these 
days  outnumber  the  days  when  you  are  "  on" 
your  game,  there  is  something  radically  wrong  with 
your  tennis.     You  are  not  simply  erratic — you  are 
not  playing  tennis;  some  part  of  your  game  is  so 
wrong  that  you  play  well  only  when  in  exceptionally 
good  spirits. 

Tennis,  however,  is  decidedly  a  temperamental 
game;  you  cannot  play  it  day  in  and  day  out  in  the 
same  form.  You  can  have  your  game  so  well 
grounded  in  the  fundamentals  that  you  will  never  go 
badly  off,  but  the  snap,  the  fire,  the  quick  thinking 
that  go  with  the  best  playing  are  largely  a  matter  of 
temperament. 

[124] 


AT      THE      TOP      OF      ONE'S      GAME 

Of  course  one  must  be  physically  fit  to  play  a 
match,  but  I  regard  the  physical  condition  as  more 
important  in  its  mental  bearing  than  in  its  actual 
bodily  effects.  I  played  one  match  with  a  twisted 
ankle;  I  could  hardly  stand  on  it,  and  yet  I  believe 
that  I  could  have  won  that  match  in  spite  of  the  dis- 
ability if  it  had  not  been  that  I  thought  so  contin- 
uously of  the  pain  that  I  became  fretful  and  un- 
balanced. I  lacked  the  mental  attitude  to  play 
the  game;  if  I  could  have  preserved  the  mental  at- 
titude, I  might  have  done  something  in  spite  of  the 
ankle. 

This  mental  attitude  means  much  to  one  in  tourna- 
ment tennis,  and  I  suggest  that  those  who  are  easily 
upset  take  every  precaution  to  come  to  matches  in  an 
even  frame  of  mind.  I  know  one  player  who  is  so 
very  sensitive  that  she  has  mapped  out  a  whole 
program  for  herself  on  days  that  she  plays.  She 
rises  late,  has  just  certain  things — always  the  same — 
for  breakfast,  and  never  leaves  the  house  until  it  is 
time  to  start  for  the  courts.  If  something  untoward 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  EN 

happens  to  her  in  the  morning,  she  will  become  so  un- 
nerved that  good  tennis  is  impossible  for  her. 

I  am  not  easily  disturbed  by  little  happenings  be- 
fore a  game,  and  yet  I  have  lost  matches  by  dis- 
agreeable incidents  which  have  no  relation  to  tennis 
and  which  should  not  have  really  bothered  me.  I 
had  arranged  to  motor  out  to  the  West  Side  Tennis 
Club  for  one  of  my  matches  in  1915;  the  motor  did 
not  arrive,  and  I  found  myself  near  to  playing  time 
and  without  a  train  for  over  an  hour.  I  telephoned 
that  I  would  be  late,  and  took  a  trolley  car;  it  seemed 
to  me  that  the  car  fairly  crept  along.  I  fussed  and 
fumed  all  the  way  to  Forest  Hills,  which  I  reached 
three-quarters  of  an  hour  late.  My  opponent  was  on 
the  court  in  a  frightful  temper;  she  accepted  my 
apology  with  scant  grace,  and  we  started  the  match. 
With  the  trolley  car  experience  and  the  temper  of  my 
opponent,  I  found  myself  in  no  mood  for  tennis.  I 
could  not  get  my  mind  down  to  the  match,  and  I  lost 
game  after  game.  Had  I  been  against  a  stronger 
opponent,  I  should  have  lost,  but  I  pulled  myself  to- 


AT      THE      TOP      OF      ONE     S      GAME 

gather  and  won.  At  no  point  during  that  match  was 
I  able  to  exert  more  than  half  of  my  game. 

I  try  to  keep  my  mind  free  before  a  game  and  I  try 
never  to  worry  about  outside  affairs.  This  is  more 
easily  said  than  done,  but,  if  you  must  bother,  bother 
about  the  match  itself.  Mere  unthinking  worry 
about  a  match  will  hurt  your  game,  but  thinking  of 
the  match  and  the  way  you  are  going  to  play  it  will 
help  your  game.  Many  people  say:  "Dismiss  the 
match  from  your  mind;  go  out  on  the  court  without  a 
thought  of  victory  or  defeat."  I  do  not  agree  with 
this  idea.  I  say:  "Think  how  you  are  going  to  win 
the  match;  do  not  think  how  you  are  going  to  lose  it. 
Turn  over  in  your  mind  the  strength  and  the  weak- 
ness of  your  opponent." 

Sometimes  one  is  a  little  frightened  before  an  im- 
portant match — the  opponent  is  magnified  in  prowess 
and  becomes  a  sort  of  a  super-woman.  I  correct  this 
by  bringing  myself  to  earth  with  the  thought :  "  She 
is  only  a  woman,  she  has  no  more  right  to  win  that 
match  than  I  have.  And,  anyhow,  nothing  worse 

[127] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

than  being  beaten  can  happen;  I  am  not  going  to 
die." 

I  find  this  train  of  thought  very  comforting  and 
quick  to  dispel  any  blue  funk  that  may  hover  about 
me.  I  make  myself  have  confidence,  and  generally  I 
go  out  on  the  court  supremely  confident.  Perhaps 
I  overdo  it.  An  umpire  said  to  me  not  long  ago: 

"You  have  no  business  coming  out  on  the  court 
looking  as  though  you  were  going  to  have  a  good 
time;  you  must  be  more  serious,  more  dignified  about 
an  important  match/' 

"  But/'  I  answered,  "  I  am  out  for  a  good  time. 
That  is  why  I  play  tennis." 

I  enjoy  tournaments  hugely;  if  I  did  not  enjoy 
them,  I  would  not  play.  I  think  the  moment  tennis 
becomes  a  serious,  life  and  death  affair,  is  the  moment 
to  stop  playing  the  game.  Perhaps  my  confidence  is 
somewhere  founded  on  my  love  for  tennis,  because  I 
would  rather  play  a  match  in  tennis  than  do  any- 
thing else  that  I  know.  Playing  a  match  as  a  duty 
is,  in  my  way  of  thinking,  hopelessly  absurd. 
f  128! 


AT      THE      TOP      OF      ONE     S      GAME 

Still,  no  matter  how  much  one  enjoys  the  game, 
that  enjoyment  will  not  be  present  if  the  conditions 
surrounding  the  match  are  unpleasant.  The  en- 
vironment means  much  to  any  one.  This  is  es- 
pecially the  case  with  matches  played  away  from 
home  where  one  puts  up  with  friends.  I  have  been 
very  fortunate  in  nearly  always  finding  entirely 
pleasant  surroundings,  but  once  or  twice  things  have 
not  gone  quite  so  well — I  did  not  like  my  environ- 
ment. And  always,  under  such  conditions,  my  ten- 
nis has  suffered.  Several  times  I  have  been  dread- 
fully homesick,  and  then  I  could  not  play  at  all. 
Things  must  make  for  comfort  and  happiness  or  the 
tennis  will  suffer. 

For  instance,  I  have  often  danced  most  of  the  night 
before  a  match  and  then  played  at  my  very  best, 
while,  again,  I  have  gone  to  bed  early,  been  restless, 
and  played  away  off  my  game.  If  you  are  not  in  the 
frame  of  mind  to  enjoy  the  game,  you  will  not  play 
your  best  tennis. 

I  find  the  greatest  difficulty  in  playing  at  the  top 

[129] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

of  my  game  against  a  weak  opponent.  One  should 
play  quite  as  hard  against  the  weakest  as  against  the 
strongest  opponent,  but  it  is  not  human  nature.  In 
the  same  tournament  I  have  beaten  the  strong  play- 
ers by  scores  more  decisive  than  the  scores  against  the 
weak  players.  And  thereupon  the  strong  players 
have  become  much  disgruntled  and  claimed  that  1 
purposely  made  the  difference.  The  strong  players 
kept  me  at  the  game  all  the  while  and  the  weak 
players  permitted  me  to  let  down. 

This  tendency  to  let  down  is  very  dangerous;  if 
you  have  a  safe  lead  and  begin  to  grow  restless,  your 
mind  will  drift  away  from  the  game.  You  cannot 
play  good  tennis  unless  the  game  absorbs  your  very 
being.  And  once  your  mind  has  wandered  and  the 
opponent  takes  on  a  new  lease  of  life,  you  are  apt  to 
be  in  a  bad  way.  Many  matches  have  been  lost  by 
good  players  who  let  up  in  their  game  when  they 
thought  they  had  a  safe  lead,  and  then  could  not 
come  back  to  meet  a  sudden  spurt  on  the  part  of  their 
once-beaten  adversary. 


IV I 


Photograph  by  Edwin  Levick,  N.  Y. 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  BACKHAND  DRIVE 
Miss  Molla  Bjurstedt 


AT      THE      TOP      OF      O  N  E  '  S      GAME 

I  think  the  lack  of  coming-back  power  in  a  girl 
who  has  slacked  her  playing  in  a  match  is  due  to 
nervousness.  A  fearfulness  of  losing  the  match  suc- 
ceeds the  rude  upsetting  of  confidence,  and,  instead 
of  concentrating  on  the  game,  the  concentration  is  on 
the  result  of  the  match.  Thinking  about  the  result 
before  the  end  has  arrived  always  takes  the  mind  off 
the  game,  and  taking  the  mind  off  the  game  means 
taking  the  eye  off  the  ball.  When  you  do  not  have 
your  eye  on  the  ball  you  cannot  play  tennis. 

Not  keeping  the  eye  on  the  ball  will  be  found  to  be 
at  the  bottom  of  most  "  off  days" — the  days  on  which 
nothing  goes  right.  Your  strokes  to  the  side  lines 
fall  outside  by  inches,  your  low  drives  hit  the  tape 
and,  instead  of  falling  forward,  drop  back.  These 
days  are  maddening;  and,  if  you  lose  your  temper, 
things  only  grow  worse.  I  find  the  trouble  is  due 
mostly  to  lifting  my  eyes  as  I  hit  the  ball;  that  is  the 
immediate  cause  of  the  bad  play.  Of  course  you  will 
not  recognize  the  lifting  of  the  eyes  as  the  real  cause; 
you  will  say  that  your  racquet  is  wrong,  your  shoes 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  EN 

or  your  dress  uncomfortable,  or  the  court  is  acting 
queerly.  These  are  merely  the  diverting  circum- 
stances which  cause  you  to  lift  your  eyes;  correct 
them  insofar  as  you  can  and  your  attention  will  prob- 
ably come  back  to  the  game. 

I  know  a  number  of  excellent  players  who  go 
through  a  match  splendidly  if  only  they  start  well. 
These  players  reach  the  court  without  a  secure  con- 
fidence in  themselves,  and  they  become  rattled  if  the 
first  few  games  go  against  them.  I  think  it  is  much 
better  to  take  for  granted  that  you  are  going  to  lose 
a  few  games  at  the  beginning,  or  even  the  set;  then  a 
bad  start  does  not  bother  you.  A  match  is  never 
over  until  the  last  stroke  has  been  played;  there  is  al- 
ways a  chance  to  win.  Mrs.  Lambert  Chambers  in  a 
memorable  game  had  one  set  in  hand  and  five  games 
to  one;  she  was  within  two  points  of  victory  when  the 
other  player  braced  up,  carried  Mrs.  Chambers  off 
her  feet,  and  eventually  won  the  match. 

I  always  start  weakly;  it  takes  me  a  set  to  find  out 
the  strength  of  my  opponent  unless  I  have  played  hei 

[132] 


AT      THE      TOP      OF      ONE'S      GAME 

many  times  before.  I  lost  the  first  set  to  Mrs. 
George  Wightman  in  the  National  Championship  at 
Philadelphia  and  again  in  the  Clay  Court  Champion- 
ship at  Pittsburg;  but  I  won  both  matches.  In  a 
match  with  Mrs.  Bundy  in  California  she  had  me 
5 — 2  on  the  first  set,  but  I  won  the  match  8 — 6,  6 — 2. 
Even  if  your  opponent  has  won  a  set  and  has  five 
games  to  your  none  on  the  second  set,  do  not  give  up 
hope.  Perhaps  she  will  "crack"  and  you  can 
simply  romp  through  to  victory.  Never  give  up  the 
fight  until  the  umpire  has  called  the  last  score.  An 
infinite  number  of  things  may  happen. 

It  is  this  unbeatable  spirit  that  wins  matches;  it  is 
a  nervous  up-on-the-toes  spirit  which  is  not  given  to 
every  one.  I  know  several  players  who  cannot  play 
as  well  in  tournaments  as  they  do  in  practice  simply 
because  they  will  insist  on  losing  matches  before  they 
play  them.  They  become  nervous  and  afraid;  they 
should  become  nervous  and  bold.  All  first-class 
players  are  nervous;  they  come  into  matches  keyed 
up  to  the  highest  point.  Their  nervousness  con- 

[133] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

tributes  to  the  vim  of  their  play;  it  intensifies  rather 
than  distracts  from  their  steadiness.  The  phleg- 
matic, even  player  can  go  so  far  and  no  farther;  she 
will  never  have  the  temperamental  abandon  which 
characterizes  the  best  players.  She  will  be  afraid  to 
try  things.  She  will  be  far  too  fond  of  playing  safe. 

Many  players  will  tell  you  always  to  play  safe. 
According  to  these  advisers,  you  will  not  smash  if 
there  is  a  chance  of  missing;  in  fact,  you  will  never  try 
for  a  point  when  a  miss  will  give  a  point  to  the  other 
side. 

This  may  be  good  advice,  but  I  do  not  recommend 
it.  I  regard  speed  and  accuracy  as  of  the  highest  im- 
portance, but  I  think  that  "steadiness"  is  but  a 
negative  virtue.  My  first  reason  is  purely  personal; 
I  could  not  play  a  "  safe"  game;  there  is  something  so 
dull  and  colorless  about  a  game  in  which  one  always 
does  the  same  thing.  One  loses  all  the  joy  of  combat 
in  such  a  style — it  is  so  insipid. 

My  second  reason  is  more  practical.  If  you  never 
try  new  ways,  you  will  never  go  forward  and  you  will 

[134] 


AT      THE      TOP      OF      O  N  E  *  S      GAME 

not  be  able  to  meet  strange  situations.  I  know  one 
woman  who  has  played  for  many  years  and  she  is  not 
a  whit  better  now  than  she  was  ten  years  ago;  that 
woman  will  never  take  a  chance;  she  is  afraid  to  try 
new  strokes  or  to  put  unusual  speed  into  any  drive; 
she  never  smashes  and  she  seldom  volleys.  Her 
game  is  always  the  same,  and  it  always  will  be  the 
same,  for  there  is  no  possible  way  in  which  she  can 
improve. 

I  do  not  mean  that  one  should  take  foolish  chances 
and  depend  on  luck  for  a  point;  it  is  suicidal  to  try 
novelties  for  their  own  sake.  But  there  is  a  vast 
difference  between  a  sporting  chance  and  a  foolhardy 
attempt.  I  will  always  venture  the  stroke  which  has 
a  fair  field  to  win,  because  that  stroke  may  not  only 
win  the  point  but  it  may  also  considerably  unsettle 
my  opponent.  It  is  disconcerting  to  have  a  player 
do  something  most  unexpected  and  spectacular. 

Another  argument  against  the  perfectly  safe  game 
is  that  it  makes  one's  game  so  settled  that  a  novel 
style  in  an  opponent  may  work  disaster.  If  you  have 

[135] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

confidence  only  in  your  safe  plays,  you  will  not  be 
able  to  rise  to  unexpected  occasions,  and  some  girl 
will  send  you  to  defeat  with  a  scheme  of  play  which 
you  might  well  have  met  had  you  been  willing  to  at- 
tempt a  new  course  of  your  own. 

I  have  spoken  of  "off  days,"  and  I  have  also  said 
that  if  these  days  are  habitual  something  is  wrong 
with  your  tennis.  But,  after  playing  fairly  well 
through  part  of  the  season,  you  may  find  your  game 
slumping  into  mediocrity — you  go  off  and  you  cannot 
come  back.  This  quite  often  happens  while  you  are 
learning  a  new  stroke  or  style  of  play;  you  have  not 
mastered  the  new  style  but  you  have  unsettled  your 
former  game.  Or  it  may  happen  from  over-tennis: 
you  may  be  stale.  When  I  was  taking  lessons  in  the 
volley  I  found  a  period  when  I  could  neither  volley 
nor  drive;  my  game  was  up  in  the  air. 

If  the  trouble  is  due  to  changing  style,  keep  on 
diligently  with  a  professional  until  you  either  learn 
the  new  style  or  decide  that  it  is  not  for  you.  And  in 
the  meantime  avoid  playing  matches.  If  you  are 


AT      THE      TOP      OF      ONE'S      GAME 

stale,  give  up  tennis  for  a  week  or  two.  And  when  I 
say,  "give  up  tennis/'  I  mean  to  give  up  the  game 
entirely  and  get  out  of  the  tennis  atmosphere.  Do 
not  hang  about  the  courts  in  the  afternoon  watching 
the  other  players;  go  away  from  the  courts  altogether 
and  find  a  different  environment.  Then  you  will  re- 
turn fresh  and  fit  for  your  game. 

Freshness  and  fitness  are  singularly  bound  up  with 
winning  or  losing  in  good  temper.  The  girls  who 
bitterly  resent  being  beaten  are  the  girls  who  most 
easily  go  off  their  games  and  then  sometimes  resort 
to  tactics  which  are  technically  within  the  rules  but 
which  are  ethically  wrong. 

If  one  is  not  playing  well,  or  is  playing  at  top 
form  and  being  beaten,  the  thing  to  do  is  to  play 
harder  and  not  to  try  to  win  the  match  by  some 
scheme  which  is  not  founded  on  hard  tennis. 

I  think  every  stroke  and  every  actual  play  of  the 
game  is  fair;  I  think  it  is  entirely  fair  to  exhaust  an 
opponent  by  making  her  run  for  every  ball  until  she  is 
in  such  a  condition  of  exhaustion  that  I  can  easily  win ; 

[137] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  EN 

I  think  it  is  fair  to  lob  into  the  face  of  the  sun,  although 
I  do  not  do  so.  In  short,  I  think  every  play  which  is 
founded  on  strategy  is  part  of  the  game  and  is  fair. 
At  one  time  I  thought  the  use  of  the  chop  stroke  was 
unfair.  I  played  against  Miss  Morton,  a  fine  English 
player,  at  Baden-Baden,  and  she  kept  chopping  the 
ball  just  over  the  net.  I  was  almost  wild  with  rage 
at  her  lack  of  sportsmanship;  I  then  thought  that 
plain,  straight  driving  was  the  only  legitimate  tennis. 
Of  course  I  now  know  that  I  was  wrong  and  that  the 
chop  stroke  or  any  other  stroke  is  a  part  of  tennis. 
I  think  it  entirely  fair  to  rattle  one's  opponent  or 
to  get  her  angry  by  giving  her  balls  that  she  does  not 
like.  But  I  most  emphatically  do  not  think  it  good 
tennis  to  try  to  put  an  opponent  off  her  game  by  an 
act  which  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  strokes  or  the 
strategy  of  tennis.  I  have  known  girls  to  scream 
just  as  a  hard  stroke  was  about  to  be  made.  This 
does  not  often  happen  and,  in  most  cases,  is  invol- 
untary. But  other  tactics  are  not  due  to  stress  of  ex- 
citement. One  of  the  most  frequent  of  these  is  un- 

[138] 


THE  FOLLOW  THROUGH  ON  THE  BACKHAND  DRIVE 
Miss  Molla  Bjurstedt 


AT      THE      TOP      OF      O  N  E  '  S      GAME 

necessary  and  painful  slowness.  I  have  played 
matches  in  which  my  opponent  tried  to — and  some- 
times did — arouse  my  anger  by  waiting  a  long  time  to 
take  position  for  the  service  or  to  receive  service,  by 
calling  "not  ready"  when  she  saw  that  I  was  set  to 
serve,  by  gathering  balls  all  around  the  court,  al- 
though ball  boys  were  on  hand  for  that  work. 

When  one  is  on  edge  to  play,  this  deliberation  is 
disquieting,  and  when  I  know  that  it  is  intentional  I 
lose  my  temper.  And  if  you  lose  your  temper  you 
are  gone.  I  have  been  so  caught  several  times,  but  I 
do  not  imagine  that  I  will  be  caught  again.  When  I 
feel  my  temper  rising,  I  say  to  myself,  "  I  will  not  get 
angry,  I  will  not  get  angry,"  and  I  keep  on  repeating 
that  until  I  have  myself  in  hand. 

But  I  cannot  say  too  much  against  this  sort  of 
thing,  and  I  am  afraid  that  too  many  girls  so  resent 
being  beaten  that  they  will  go  to  almost  any  lengths. 
Sometimes  I  wonder  if  women  really  have  the  finer 
sporting  instincts  of  men.  Sometimes  I  am  quite 
sure,  taking  them  by  and  large,  that  they  have  not 

1139] 


TENNIS       FOR      WOMEN 

these  finer  feelings  in  sport.  I  doubt  if  the  average 
girl  who  congratulates  her  victorious  opponent 
means  what  she  says;  I  know  that  some  do  not. 
After  almost  every  tournament  one  will  hear  a  per- 
fect buzz  about  every  first-class  player,  and  I  have 
heard  ever  so  many  about  myself.  Always  I  can 
trace  the  saying  back  to  some  one  who  has  been 
beaten.  I  know  that  very  few  real  friendships  exist 
among  tennis  women.  They  do  not  have  the  give- 
and-take  spirit  of  men,  and  they  refuse  to  recognize 
that  any  player  is  unqualifiedly  better  than  them- 
selves. 

All  of  this  touches  delicate  ground;  some  of  the  very 
best  players  have  splendid  sportsmanship — others 
have  not.  I  think  that  if  more  women  were  playing, 
the  spirit  might  be  better,  although  the  women  abroad 
are  just  as  jealous  of  each  other  as  they  are  here. 

The  spectators,  by  their  partisanship,  can  easily 
throw  you  off  your  game.  I  find  it  hard  to  play  a 
match  with  an  unfriendly  audience;  it  makes  for  con- 
fidence to  know  that  some  one  in  the  crowd  wishes 
[  140] 


AT      THE      TOP      OF      O  N  E  '  S      GAME 

you  to  win,  and  not  only  wishes  you  to  win  but  thinks 
that  you  can  win.  I  have  been  helped  a  great  deal  by 
a  friendly,  "  Keep  at  it,  you  can  beat  her/'  spoken  to 
me  while  changing  courts. 

The  sporting  spirit  of  women  had  best  be  left  to  a 
neutral  observer;  I  am  too  much  involved  in  the 
game.  But  do  play  tennis  for  the  game's  sake — not 
for  winning. 

/.     Play  matches  only  if  you  enjoy  them. 

2.  Play  as  hard  as  you  can  but  within  the  spirit  as 
well  as  the  letter  of  the  rules. 

3.  Rattle  an  opponent  by  your  play  but  not  by  your 
manner. 

4.  Play  the  game  for  the  fun  that  you  get  out  of  it  and 
not  only  to  win. 

5.  Think  of  the  game  all  you  like  but  do  not  worry 
about  it. 


[141] 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  TEST  OF   THE   TOURNAMENTS 

JUST  as  soon  as  a  girl  has  learned  to  play  a  pas- 
sable game  she  should  go  in  for  the  tourna- 
ments.    I  am  not  one  of  those  who  advocate 
excluding  the  weaker  players  from  the  champion- 
ships; I  should  be  glad  to  see  the  entry  list  five  or  ten 
times  as  large  as  it  now  is,  for  that  would  mean  more 
girls  in  the  game.    And  I  should  like  to  see  every  one 
playing  tennis. 

Tournament  play  is  the  best  way  to  develop  your 
game.  In  practice  you  will  play  against  more  or  less 
the  same  lot  of  players;  you  will  know  all  their  styles, 
and  you  will  adapt  your  style  to  meet  theirs.  In 
time  you  will  become  "set"  in  your  ways;  you  will 
find  yourself  in  a  tennis  blind  alley  from  which  you 
will  have  trouble  in  escaping.  But  if  you  enter  the 
[142] 


TEST      OF      THE      TOURNAMENTS 

tournaments  you  will  meet  new  players  with  new 
styles,  you  will  meet  players  better  than  yourself 
who  have  all  varieties  of  attack  and  defence,  you  will 
readjust  your  game  to  changing  styles  and  conditions 
and  learn  far  more  tennis. 

Tournament  experience  is  invaluable;  the  com- 
petition puts  a  life  into  you  which  you  would  not 
otherwise  acquire;  you  have  the  finer  points  of  the 
game  brought  home  to  you.  You  see  players  better 
than  yourself  in  action;  you  get  into  the  tennis  at- 
mosphere. I  do  not  see  how  it  is  possible  to  play 
better  than  an  average  game  without  ample  tourna- 
ment experience. 

The  fear  of  being  beaten,  of  being  made  to  look 
foolish,  keeps  many  girls  out  of  tournaments.  Some 
one  may  say  to  you,  "  What  conceit !  You  haven't  a 
chance  in  the  world."  Probably  you  have  no  chance 
of  winning,  but  you  have  an  excellent  chance  to  bet- 
ter your  game.  And  it  may  comfort  you  to  know 
that  no  player  wins  her  first  tournament,  or  her  first 
dozen  tournaments.  Tennis  growth  is  slow;  five 
[•1431 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

years  is  a  minimum  period  for  development.  All  our 
best  players  have  been  in  tournaments  for  ten  years 
or  more.  Therefore  no  one  need  be  discouraged  by 
even  the  worst  beating  in  the  first  match  of  the  pre- 
liminary round.  Know  that  the  girls  who  are 
expected  to  win  have  also  gone  through  the  mill; 
they  have  also  been  unmercifully  beaten  time  and 
again. 

The  only  danger  of  tournament  play  for  the  green 
player  is  that  she  will  lose  her  nerve  with  the  first  de- 
feat and  not  try  again.  For  that  reason  it  would  be 
well  to  exhaust  the  local  tournaments  before  trying 
for  bigger  game.  A  win  once  in  a  while  does  help, 
and  only  the  stoutest  hearts  will  keep  on  steadily 
improving  through  seemingly  interminable  defeat. 
The  presence  or  the  absence  of  what  I  will  call 
"tournament  nerve"  is  of  moment.  You  should  be 
able  to  play  your  best  game  in  competition,  but 
probably  you  will  fail  to  realize  your  fullest  possi- 
bilities through  your  first  few  trials.  The  only  way 
to  gain  tournament  nerve  is  by  tournament  play;  the 
[  144] 


TEST      OF      THE      TOURNAMENTS 
more  you  play,  the  more  accustomed  you  will  be- 
come to  keen  competition. 

I  have  always  enjoyed  tournaments,  and  I  have 
been  playing  in  them  since  a  few  months  after  I  first 
held  a  racquet  in  my  hand.  I  have  learned  most  of 
my  game  by  tournament  play,  and  I  recommend  the 
same  course  to  other  players. 

I  have  but  one  caution:  make  sure  that  you  are 
putting  your  tournament  experience  on  the  top  of  a 
firm  foundation  of  tennis  form.  You  will  not  learn 
form  in  match  play;  in  fact,  the  tendency  is  to  aban- 
don form  in  a  wild  desire  to  win.  Tournaments  will 
teach  you  strategy,  but  they  will  not  teach  you 
elementary  play.  That  you  must  learn  by  hard 
practice.  Have  your  fundamentals — your  strokes, 
your  body,  and  footwork — so  well  grounded,  that 
play  will  strengthen  you  and  not  merely  confirm 
weakness. 

I  have  no  idea  how  much  one  should  play  during  a 
season.  With  the  indoor  courts,  the  season  is  now 
twelve  months  long.  I  think  that  it  would  be  un- 

[145] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

wise  to  play  through  the  whole  year,  but  this  is  a 
matter  for  the  individual.  If  you  enjoy  the  game, 
play  all  you  can.  I  play  in  every  tournament, 
winter  or  summer,  that  I  find  time  to  enter.  If  you 
find  you  are  overplaying,  stop  for  a  while.  There  is 
no  rule;  it  all  rests  with  the  individual. 

The  first  requisite  of  tournament  play  is  nerve;  the 
second  is  judgment.  No  matter  how  cleverly  you 
have  developed  your  strokes,  they  can  never  be  more 
than  pawns  in  the  game.  The  real  game  is  played 
with  these  strokes — it  is  not  a  result  of  them  any 
more  than  chessmen  make  up  the  game  of  chess. 
You  will  use  your  strokes  to  best  advantage  if  you 
have  that  idea  constantly  in  mind. 

I  favor  playing  to  a  system,  but  the  system  is 
to  be  chosen  for  each  match  and  changed  the  mo- 
ment it  appears  to  be  wrong.  The  elements  of 
the  system  are  the  covering  of  your  own  weak- 
nesses and  attacking  your  opponent's  vulnerable 
spots. 

You  can  spend  a  set  discovering  the  thin  points  of 


TEST      OF      THE      TOURNAMENTS 

your  opponent's  game,  but  it  saves  time  to  watch  her 
play  in  other  matches  of  the  tournament. 

If  she  is  weak  in  driving  and  strong  at  the  net,  keep 
her  in  the  back  court  by  hard  driving.  If  she  drives 
well  and  plays  poorly  at  the  net,  lure  her  up  by  short, 
slow  returns.  If  her  backhand  is  weak,  return  hard 
to  the  backhand  court. 

Sometimes  a  player  starts  with  a  brilliancy  which 
her  strength  will  not  maintain  through  the  match. 
In  such  a  case  I  abandon  my  idea  of  the  pressing 
game  and  think  only  of  tiring  her  out  so  that  I  can 
win  when  she  loses  snap.  Frequent  lobs  and  long 
drives  are  most  efficacious  in  the  wearing-down  game; 
your  whole  thought  will  be  to  give  an  inordinate 
length  to  each  game  by  refusing  points  when  you  can 
assist  her  to  eventual  exhaustion  by  long  rallies.  The 
scheme  works  beautifully  against  the  average  girl 
who  affects  the  hard  service  net  game.  Give  her 
plenty  to  do  and  the  steam  will  soon  vanish  from  her 
strokes. 

You  may  meet  a  player  who  is  absolutely  your 

[-47] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

equal,  and  then  the  match  becomes  a  matter  of  who 
"cracks"  first;  you  must  simply  go  in  hard  and  trust 
that  your  strength  will  outlast  hers. 

Keep  your  temper !  No  matter  how  much  you  are 
annoyed,  remember  that  you  cannot  play  blindly. 
There  is  always  a  way  out  of  every  hole  if  you  will 
only  view  the  situation  with  a  clear  eye. 

Study  your  opponent's  temperament  as  well  as  her 
game  and  play  against  the  grain  of  her  temperament, 

I  am  seldom  in  a  hurry  to  win.  I  would  rather 
make  sure  that  I  know  my  opponent  than  start  in  to 
win  from  the  first  stroke.  Late  in  the  season,  after 
one  has  met  all  the  best  players,  this  preliminary 
study  is  not  so  necessary,  but  even  then  a  girl  cannot 
be  depended  upon  always  to  play  the  same  game. 
She  may  change  her  style  to  meet  what  she  thinks 
you  are  going  to  do.  This  is  one  of  the  fascinations 
of  tennis.  All  the  first-class  players  are  versatile 
enough  to  try  you  on  several  styles  of  game. 

I  formerly  thought  it  best  to  meet  a  player  at  her 
own  game.  For  instance,  against  a  base-liner  who 


TEST      OF      THE      TOURNAMENTS 

always  managed  to  return  and  depended  on  you  to 
commit  the  errors,  I  would  also  return  easily  without 
an  attempt  to  score.  Now  I  go  to  the  net  against 
such  a  player.  I  carry  the  game  to  her  with  all  my 
might.  Some  years  ago  my  sister  Valborg  played 
Miss  Castenskiold,  the  Danish  champion,  in  Stock- 
holm. Miss  Castenskiold  was  a  confirmed  base- 
liner  of  the  most  irritating  sort.  She  returned  every- 
thing with  the  same  easy  drive.  I  told  my  sister  to 
play  the  same  game.  She  did.  One  rally  took  the 
ball  seventy-eight  times  across  the  net!  King 
Gustav  of  Sweden  was  among  the  spectators  and  is 
responsible  for  the  count.  And  my  sister  lost  the 
point!  I  could  not  play  such  a  rally;  I  am  sure  that 
I  would  die  of  suppressed  excitement  before  it  ended. 
I  was  beside  myself  watching  that  rally. 

The  usefulness  of  one's  game  depends  upon  fresh- 
ness. You  may  be  trying  to  exhaust  your  adversary, 
and  she  may  also  be  trying  to  exhaust  you.  She 
may  keep  you  running  for  your  returns,  and  certainly 
you  will  have  plenty  to  do.  Therefore  do  not 
[  149] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

further  exhaust  yourself  going  after  impossible 
"gets";  do  not  be  quick  to  imagine  a  ball  is  impos- 
sible to  reach;  you  will  soon  come  to  choose  between 
the  possible  and  the  impossible. 

Many  "impossible"  gets  are  avoided  by  closely 
watching  your  opponent  as  she  makes  her  strokes; 
her  eyes,  the  position  of  her  racquet,  her  stance,  often 
betray  the  destination  of  the  ball  and  give  one  a  start 
in  time  for  the  place  where  the  ball  will  drop.  Very 
few  players  always  succeed  in  masking  their  shots. 

/ .  Enter  tournaments  when  you  lave  grounded  your 
fundamental  play. 

2.  Enter  every  tournament  you  can. 

3.  Do  not  be  discouraged  by  defeat. 

4.  Watc})  bow  otber  players  win  tbeir  matcbes. 

5.  //  you  suffer  from  over-tennis,  stop  playing  for 
a  time. 

6.  Study  the  game  of  your  opponent;  know  ber 
strength  and  ber  weakness. 


[150] 


Photograph,  by  n  ilton  &  Post,  Col. 

FINISH  OF  THE  FOREHAND  DRIVE ON  THE  WRONG  FOOT 

Mrs.  Thomas  M.  Bundv 


CHAPTER  XI 

WHAT  NOT  TO  WEAR 

riS  easier  to  tell  what  not  to  wear  when  playing 
:ennis  than  to  say  what  to  wear.  Provided  the 
costume  is  light  and  free,  the  choice  may  roam 
through  a  hundred  styles  and  materials.  Some  few 
girls  choose  elaborate  costumes,  but  I  like  a  very 
simple  dress — with  the  idea  of  being  clothed  and  not 
gowned. 

The  English  girls  have  a  habit  of  playing  tennis  in 
gowns  that  are  particularly  fit  for  an  afternoon  tea, 
and  they  often  top  off  their  costume  with  a  large  lace 
hat.  I  call  this  dressing  for  the  tennis  court  and  not 
for  tennis;  the  costume  may  be  compared  to  those 
fancy  bathing  suits  which  are  not  meant  to  be 
touched  by  water. 

One  may  dress  very  sensibly  for  tennis,  and  at  the 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

same  time  look  well.  There  is  nothing  incompatible 
between  looking  trim  and  being  free  and  comfortable. 
Therefore,  I  think  a  shirtwaist  of  some  light  material 
and  a  linen  skirt  make  the  best  and  neatest  costume. 
Of  course,  the  only  permissible  color  is  white — white 
waist,  white  skirt,  white  stockings,  and  white  shoes. 

Personally,  I  do  not  play  with  a  hat,  because  the 
sun  does  not  bother  me,  but  the  sun  seriously  affects 
many  girls.  In  such  cases  a  fair-sized  panama  with 
a  turned-down  brim  is  the  only  sensible  headgear. 
An  ordinary  hat  will  not  stay  on  and  it  is  also  too 
heavy. 

The  shoes  are  a  matter  of  personal  taste,  except 
that  they  should  be  very  light  indeed.  The  buck- 
skin shoes  with  the  heavy  rubber  soles  are  entirely 
unsuitable  for  the  tennis  court,  and  if  one  likes  a 
rubber  sole,  as  I  do,  for  all  kinds  of  courts,  a  sneaker 
or  other  very  light  half  shoe  is  much  to  be  preferred. 
The  sporting  houses  make  a  shoe  for  girls  in  very 
light  leather  with  short  spikes  for  use  on  the  grass 
court.  A  heavy  girl  will  hardly  manage  on  a  grass 

[152] 


WHAT      NOT      TO      WEAR 
court  without  spikes,  because  the  rubber  will  not 
hold  her.    On  a  clay  or  asphalt  court  only  a  rubber 
sole  can  be  used.     Lighter  girls  may  use  a  rubber  sole 
on  any  kind  of  a  court. 

You  will  select  your  whole  costume  with  the  idea 
of  freedom  of  movement,  and  therefore  your  skirt 
should  be  short  enough  and  wide  enough  not  to 
hamper  any  jump  or  stride  which  you  may  happen  to 
make.  You  should  forsake  the  prevailing  style  and 
choose  the  skirt  with  the  idea  of  the  greatest  freedom 
with  the  least  weight.  It  should  be  at  least  six 
inches  from  the  ground.  A  very  voluminous  skirt 
means  extra  weight.  For  freedom's  sake  the  shirt- 
waist should  be  open  at  the  throat  and  should  be  full 
enough  to  admit  of  an  unrestricted  arm  movement 
in  any  direction. 

I  suggest  washable  materials,  because,  especially  on 
clay  or  dirt  courts,  one  becomes  very  soiled  through  an 
afternoon's  play.  And  then  most  of  the  washable 
fabrics  are  lighter  in  weight  than  the  unwashable. 
An  afternoon  of  hard  tennis  will  take  quite  enough 

[153] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

out  of  you  without  dragging  around  any  more 
clothing  than  is  absolutely  necessary. 

A  sweater  coat  or  polo  coat  should  always  be  at 
hand  to  put  on  immediately  after  practice  or  a 
match  to  avoid  the  possible  chill  following  over- 
heating. I  am  very  careless  about  this,  but  other 
girls  may  not  be  so  hardy. 

Remember  that  you  will  play  matches  on  wet 
courts  and  that  you  will  frequently  leave  a  match  in 
a  shocking  condition  as  far  as  your  clothing  is  con- 
cerned. Therefore  never  wear  anything  the  spoiling 
of  which  will  in  the  least  bother  you. 

/.  Dress  lightly  and  with  perfect  freedom  of  move- 
ment. 

2.  Wear  washable  fabrics. 

3.  Do  not  put  your  clothes  above  your  game. 

4.  Wear  the  lightest  shoes  that  are  comfortable. 


[154] 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE    PRACTICE   THAT  HELPS 

PRACTISE,  practise,  practise — always  prac- 
tise if  you  would  play  first-class  tennis.    The 
best  players — the  men  and  women  in  the  first 
string — play  nearly  every  day  throughout  the  whole 
open  season,  and  many  play  several  times  a  week  in- 
doors in  winter.     Every  well-executed  play  in  tennis 
is  the  result  of  practice;  no  matter  what  the  natural 
aptitude,  it  is  practice  that  makes  the  real  tennis 
player.    There  is  no  royal  road.     Merely  playing 
every  day  will  not  develop  a  game.    The  prac- 
tice must  be  gone  about  intelligently  in  the  desire 
to  improve  the  weak  spots,  and  no  amount   of 
match  playing  will  take  the  place  of  painstaking 
training. 
The  natural  desire  in  playing  a  friendly  game  is  to 

[155] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

use  the  strokes  that  you  know  best  and  to  avoid  the 
plays  in  which  you  have  commonly  failed;  it  stands 
to  reason  that  it  is  not  the  best  strokes  but  the  poor 
strokes  which  need  attention.  Therefore  match 
play  does  not  cure  your  ills.  Match  play  will  give 
valuable  confidence,  but  it  will  not  teach  tennis.  The 
best  way  to  improve  your  game  is  to  spend  hours 
hammering  at  a  weak  stroke.  Sometimes  you  can 
find  a  player  searching  for  strength  who  is  willing  to 
spend  many  afternoons  playing  but  one  stroke 
against  you.  Such  a  practice  has  something  of  the 
atmosphere  of  the  match.  Take  plenty  of  balls — a 
dozen  or  two — and  play  only  one  stroke  until  you 
have  mastered  it. 

A  captured  small  boy  tossing  balls  to  you  will 

A 
answer  nearly  as  well  as  a  player;  amenable  small 

boys  may  be  had  for  a  consideration.  If  your  back- 
hand is  weak,  instruct  the  youngster  to  throw  the 
balls  always  to  your  backhand,  or,  if  you  need  train- 
ing in  the  smash,  let  him  throw  the  balls  into  the  air. 
It  is  possible  to  gain  much  skill  batting  the  ball 

[156] 


THE      PRACTICE      THAT      HELPS 

against  a  wall  or  a  fence.  Some  clubs  now  have 
practice  fences  marked  with  a  line  at  the  height  of  a 
tennis  net;  it  is  surprising  how  much  stroke  action 
you  can  learn  in  this  way. 

If  you  play  practice  matches,  subordinate  your  im- 
mediate desire  to  win  to  an  effort  to  strengthen  your 
weaker  points.  And  always  keep  your  mind  on 
what  you  are  about ;  if  the  practice  grows  tedious  and 
you  begin  to  hit  listlessly,  stop!  Listless  practice  is 
worse  than  none. 

In  selecting  an  opponent  for  practice,  try  to  find  a 
more  skilful  player  than  yourself — at  least  find  some 
one  who  will  extend  you.  It  is  poor  practice,  almost 
worse  than  none,  to  play  against  weaker  players  con- 
tinuously. And  watch  your  desire  to  win  at  the  ex- 
pense of  strokes  that  need  attention.  It  is  an  excel- 
lent scheme  not  to  score  at  all  in  practice  games;  that 
will  help  rid  them  of  the  competitive  idea  and  aid  you 
to  concentrate  upon  the  parts  of  the  game  which  you 
are  working  to  improve. 

Many  girls  are  so  ashamed  of  being  beaten  in 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

practice  that  they  will  play  as  in  a  match  and  lose  the 
chance  to  improve.  Such  girls  never  do  improve; 
the  more  they  practice,  the  more  they  confirm  their 
bad  habits. 

Do  not  be  afraid  to  ask  advice  on  ways  of  execut- 
ing strokes  and  on  points  of  strategy.  Almost  every 
first-class  player  is  glad  to  help  a  weaker  player.  If 
you  have  a  good  professional,  he  will  be  able  to  help 
out  your  game,  but  if  you  have  no  professional,  take 
the  advice  of  older  players  who  know  the  game.  The 
girl  who  will  not  give  suggestions  when  asked  by  a 
younger  player  is  a  disgrace  to  the  game. 

The  natural  tendency  is  to  develop  tennis  along 
the  lines  of  least  resistance;  every  player  likes  certain 
strokes  and  becomes  very  strong  in  these  strokes. 
All  of  your  strokes  cannot  be  of  equal  strength  and 
you  will  certainly  have  favorites,  but  do  not  let  your 
favorites  compose  your  game  of  tennis.  One  player 
in  England  reached  the  first  class  because  of  an  ex- 
ceptionally powerful  forehand  drive;  he  was  a  fast 
runner  and  he  managed  to  bring  off  strong  forehand 


THE  PRACTICE  THAT  HELPS 
drives  where  most  players  would  use  a  backhand,  but 
he  never  became  a  champion,  because  he  was  essen- 
tially a  one-stroke  player.  The  champions  are  not 
always  strong  in  every  section  of  the  game,  but  they 
never  have  pronounced  weak  spots. 

Specialization  is  a  tennis  fault;  girls  convince 
themselves  that  a  stroke  is  difficult  and  they  will 
avoid  it  instead  of  concentrating  on  it  until  they  have 
a  mastery.  Again,  a  girl  finds  herself  wild  at  the  net, 
she  does  not  care  to  make  an  exhibition  of  herself  and 
therefore  she  never  goes  to  the  net;  or  it  may  be  the 
other  way  about  and  she  plays  only  net. 

One  of  the  practical  disadvantages  of  being  a  one- 
stroke  or  one-style  player  is  that,  once  an  opponent 
has  discovered  your  strength,  she  will  give  you  few 
chances  to  use  it.  She  knows  what  to  avoid  and  will 
never  consciously  give  you  a  chance  to  practise  your 
strength.  I  like  nothing  better  than  to  find  an  op- 
ponent with  only  one  style  of  play;  it  is  but  the  mat- 
ter of  a  few  games  until  you  learn  all  the  sure  places 
to  send  the  ball.  Then  the  match  is  over. 

[159] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

The  adage  to  the  effect  that  it  is  best  to  do  only  one 
thing  but  to  do  that  well  does  not  apply  to  tennis. 
You  will  play  a  far  better  game  if  you  perform  in- 
differently well  in  all  departments  than  if  you  have 
a  few  brilliant  specialties  and  many  patent  weak 
spots. 

I  advise  the  sternest  drilling  in  every  weak  stroke 
so  that  your  game  will  be  built  into  a  symmetrical 
whole;  you  will  still  have  your  pet  strokes,  but  you 
will  also  have  a  fair  average  of  strength  in  all  the 
strokes.  In  the  same  manner,  I  advise  against  a  for- 
mal commitment  to  any  style  of  game;  it  is  not  al- 
ways well  to  play  from  the  base  line  nor  is  it  always 
well  to  play  net.  Let  your  whole  style  be  adaptable 
to  circumstance. 

I  think  the  chief  danger  in  training  for  a  tennis 
match  is  in  the  direction  of  too  much  work.  When 
a  girl  starts  the  season,  she  will  find  herself  wofully 
out  of  practice;  many  of  the  points  of  her  game  will 
need  a  decided  brushing  up.  She  has  plenty  of  re- 
serve energy  from  her  winter's  rest  and  a  wild  desire 
[160] 


THE      PRACTICE      THAT      HELPS 

"to  be  up  and  at  it."     Before  she  knows  it,  she  will 
be  in  an  over-tennis  condition. 

Of  course,  the  amount  of  training  depends  on  the 
individual,  but  it  is  well  to  remember  that  a  tourna- 
ment requires  a  great  amount  of  endurance,  and  that 
if  you  are  down  very  fine  you  will  probably  have  ex- 
hausted your  reserve  strength  and  possibly  "crack" 
in  the  deciding  set. 

I  train  somewhat  differently  from  most  girls 
because  I  am  always  in  condition.  But  my  own 
difficulty  is  avoiding  too  much  work.  I  am  not 
particularly  an  advocate  of  "  early  to  bed  and  early 
to  rise"  training,  nor  do  I  think  any  particular  diet 
should  be  followed.  I  simply  get  as  much  sleep  as  I 
think  I  need,  eat  what  I  like — although  I  do  not  eat 
much  before  a  hard  match — and  generally  I  try  to 
forget  that  I  am  preparing  for  anything  in  particular. 
I  firmly  believe  that  most  training  wears,  because  a 
girl  gets  an  entirely  exaggerated  idea  of  the  impor- 
tance of  the  training  and  of  the  match ;  she  gives  way 
to  nerves. 

[161] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOM  EN 

I  think  that  a  set  or  two  in  the  morning,  with  pos- 
sibly some  practice  of  individual  strokes,  and  two  or 
three  hard  sets  in  the  late  afternoon,  will  put  any  one 
into  proper  condition,  and  that  the  off  time  had  best 
be  spent  in  doing  something  entirely  unconnected 
with  tennis  which  takes  one's  mind  entirely  off  the 
game  and  the  coming  match. 

The  normal  girl  needs  none  of  the  ordeals  of  the 
prize  fighter;  of  course  a  case  might  be  imagined  in 
which  the  player  had  abused  herself  during  the  win- 
ter season,  but  that  sort  of  a  girl  is  hardly  likely  to 
take  to  tennis  anyway.  The  general  average  needs 
only  the  development  of  endurance  and  the  minimi- 
zation of  "nerves,"  and  this  result  is  best  to  be  gained 
by  a  perfectly  natural  life  with  a  fair  amount  of  tennis. 

I  thoroughly  believe  in  the  European  system  of 
training,  and  I  think  the  girl  who  "trains  hard"  may 
hurt  both  her  game  and  herself. 

/.     Practise  to  improve,  and  practise  always. 

2.  In  practice,  play  your  weaker  strokes  in  pref- 
erence to  your  stronger. 


Photograph  by  Edwin  Levick,  N.  I 
THE  SERVICE  OF  MISS  ANN  SHEAFE 


THE      PRACTICE      THAT      HELPS 
5.    //  you  have  one  very  weak  stroke,  play  only  that 
stroke  until  it  is  strong. 

4.  Play  against  the  best  opponents  you  can  find. 

5.  Do  not  make  matches  out  of  practice  games;  do 
not  keep  a  score. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

MOSTLY   PERSONAL 

THIRTEEN  years  ago  some  one  asked  me  to 
fill  out  a  game  of  doubles  on  the  indoor 
tennis  courts  in  Christiania;  I  took  a  rac- 
quet and  hit  the  ball.  I  think  the  ball  went  through 
a  skylight — but  the  point  is  that  I  hit  the  ball  un- 
commonly hard. 

That  is  why  I  liked  tennis  at  once,  and  why  I  have 
played  whenever  I  have  had  the  chance,  for  I  have 
always  had  a  desire  to  run  about  and  hit  something. 
At  school  we  had  plenty  of  exercise.  In  the  summer 
there  was  rowing  and  swimming,  and  frequent  battles 
with  my  brothers,  but,  until  I  discovered  tennis,  I 
never  had  a  real  chance  to  fling  myself  about  and 
hit. 

Finding  that  I  had  a  "tennis  eye"  and  could  hit 


MOSTLY      P  E  RSON AL 

the  ball  gave  me  unlimited  confidence  in  my  ability 
to  play  and  beat  others.  In  a  month  after  starting  I 
played  in  my  first  tournament.  I  have  never  passed 
a  tournament  since,  for  it  is  only  by  competitive  play 
that  one  can  improve.  Of  course  I  was  beaten  in  my 
first  match;  I  found  that  the  other  girls  did  not  hit 
the  ball  so  hard,  but  they  did  know  more  or  less 
where  it  was  going  to  land.  I  made  up  my  mind 
right  there  that  I  would  learn  how  to  place. 

The  indoor  courts  in  Christ iania  were  poorly 
lighted ;  no  one  knew  much  about  tennis,  and  when  I 
secured  a  professional  teacher  in  the  spring  I  had  to 
unlearn  many  bad  habits.  The  professional  taught 
me  that  tennis  does  not  consist  in  a  wild  "swat''  at 
the  ball;  he  grounded  me  in  the  elements  of  stroke. 
It  is  a  great  mistake  not  to  take  lessons  from  a  pro- 
fessional before  playing  tennis;  lessons  are  unin- 
teresting, but  they  pay  in  the  end. 

I  went  on  fast  enough  because  of  my  strength  and 
my  eye.  I  was  runner-up  in  the  Norwegian  cham- 
pionships that  fall.  I  should  have  gone  on  faster 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

had  I  known  better  players  with  whom  to  practise, 
or  had  I  had  the  chance  to  enter  more  tournaments. 
We  have  little  tennis  in  Norway,  and  very  few  good 
players.  There  were  no  girls,  excepting  my  younger 
sister,  to  give  me  a  game,  and  soon  I  became  too  fast 
for  the  men.  We  had  a  few  players  attached  to  the 
British  Legation,  and  I  also  played  frequently  with 
the  present  Crown  Prince  of  Sweden,  Gustav  Adolf. 
We  entered  the  mixed  doubles  in  the  World's  Indoor 
Championship  at  Stockholm  in  1904,  but  were 
quickly  beaten;  I  was  also  beaten  in  the  first  round  of 
the  singles. 

My  game  was  improving,  however,  and  in  1904  I 
won  the  woman's  outdoor  tennis  championship  of 
Norway.  I  have  since  won  it  every  time  that  I  have 
entered — eight  times. 

Having  finished  school  at  home,  I  went  to  a  board- 
ing-school in  Wiesbaden,  principally  to  learn  German, 
but  I  did  not  like  the  girls  at  all.  I  cried  for  six 
months,*  until  I  finally  managed  to  have  my  parents 
take  me  home.  Then  I  went  to  Paris  for  a  year  to 
[166] 


MOSTLY      PERSON  A  L 

perfect  my  French.  Of  course  I  did  not  get  much 
tennis  in  either  place. 

That  was  six  years  ago;  most  of  the  girls  that  I 
knew  were  taking  up  massage — we  in  Norway  think 
that  every  girl  ought  to  have  a  profession  of  some 
kind — and  I  took  a  course  at  the  Orthopedic  Institute 
in  Christiania.  I  am  glad  that  I  did,  for  otherwise  I 
should  probably  never  have  come  to  America  to  live, 
and  therefore  I  should  never  have  won  the  champion- 
ship. 

In  1908  I  thought  I  should  try  my  luck  in  London 
as  a  masseuse;  I  joined  the  Queen's  Club  for  tennis, 
and  had  plenty  of  fine  practice  with  the  professionals. 
I  also  found  that  there  was  a  great  deal  more  for  me 
to  learn  about  tennis.  I  had  not  been  playing  my 
strokes  quite  right,  and  my  play  was  much  below  that 
of  the  English  girls.  I  entered  one  or  two  tourna- 
ments, but  was  easily  beaten;  I  had  very  little 
practice  against  women,  and  I  did  not  quite  know 
how  to  take  their  game. 

Although  the  tennis  was  so  good  in  England,  the 

1 167] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

practice  of  my  profession  was  not,  and  I  came  back  to 
Christiania  to  my  parents.  I  had  learned  tennis,  and 
had  had  a  good  time  learning  it. 

I  had  been  anxious  to  play  in  some  tournaments 
outside  of  Norway  or  Sweden;  I  wanted  to  try  my- 
self against  better  players.  I  can  never  really  play 
hard  unless  my  opponent  is  pressing  me;  when  I  have 
easy  matches,  my  game  goes  down. 

My  sister  and  I  were  asked  to  play  in  a  tournament 
at  Hamburg  and  we  accepted,  promising  our  parents 
that  we  would  not  be  gone  over  a  week.  I  was 
beaten  in  the  finals,  one  set  to  two  by  the  cham- 
pion of  Germany. 

The  German  girls  told  us  that  we  would  have  a 
splendid  time  at  the  Braunschweig  handicaps;  we 
were  due  home,  but  we  reasoned  that  it  would  be  the 
last  outing  for  the  summer  and  we  ventured  Braun- 
schweig. We  had  great  luck  there ;  we  won  the  doub- 
les, owing  thirty,  and  then  we  tossed  for  the^singles. 

There  was  another  tournament  on  at  Hamburg; 
my  mother  kept  wiring  us  to  come  home,  but  since 

[168] 


MOSTLY      PERSONAL 

we  were  due  for  a  scolding  anyway,  we  thought  it 
might  as  well  be  a  good  one;  we  went  to  Hamburg.  I 
took  the  third  prize  in  the  singles.  Finally  at  Baden- 
Baden  we  reached  the  end  of  our  money  and  I  had  to 
send  a  wire  home  for  more.  My  sister  went  on  to 
Dresden  to  study  music,  so  I  had  to  face  things  at 
Christiania  alone;  my  father  was  waiting  to  meet  me 
at  the  boat ! 

That  summer  in  Germany  gave  me  more  tourna- 
ment play  than  I  had  ever  had;  in  fact,  I  played  more 
that  summer  than  at  any  time  before  coming  to  the 
United  States,  and  I  learned  a  great  deal  of  tennis. 
The  German  girls  hit  the  ball  much  harder  than  do 
most  of  the  girls  here,  and  they  play  a  splendid 
placing  game  from  the  base  line;  they  hardly  ever 
come  to  the  net. 

The  Olympic  games  came  the  next  year,  1912. 
The  Norwegian  Association  would  not  enter  me  in 
the  indoor  games,  because  they  did  not  like  to  be 
represented  by  only  a  woman!  However,  they  en- 
tered me  in  the  outdoor  games. 


TENNIS  FOR  WOME  N 
I  played  much  better  in  the  Olympics  than  I  had 
ever  played  before,  but  in  the  third  round  I  lost  to 
Mile.  Broquedis,  the  French  champion.  The  sets 
were  6 — 3,  2 — 6,  6 — 4,  and  most  of  the  games  went  to 
deuce.  She  eventually  took  the  first  prize  and  I  got 
the  third,  a  bronze  medal. 

After  the  Olympics  I  played  only  in  Norway  and 
Sweden  until  I  came  to  the  United  States  in  October, 
1914,  to  practise  my  profession;  I  do  not  practise 
massage  at  home,  and  I  was  tiring  of  inaction.  I 
was  engaged  for  a  while  by  a  family  in  Canada. 
Then  I  came  to  New  York. 

I  had  little  thought  of  tennis  in  America,  until  I 
saw  the  newspaper  accounts  of  the  men's  indoor 
championships  in  February.  Then  I  began  to  be 
restless.  I  looked  in  at  the  armory  during  several 
.  of  the  matches,  and  finally  I  asked  if  there  would  be 
any  chance  to  practise  after  the  tournament  had 
finished.  They  told  me  of  the  woman's  champion- 
ship in  March,  and  at  once  I  entered,  not  that  I  had 
much  idea  of  winning,  but  I  wanted  competition. 


MOSTLY      PERSONAL 

I  found  Haggett,  a  professional  from  Stockholm,  at 
the  courts.  I  told  him  that  I  was  going  to  enter  for 
the  championship;  and  then  I  said,  I  am  afraid  some- 
what plaintively: 

"  I  want  to  win." 

"Go  ahead  and  do  it,"  he  replied  cheerfully,  but  he 
had  not  the  least  idea  that  I  would.  I  did  not  get 
into  the  game  until  the  tournament  started,  but  then 
I  went  through  without  losing  a  set.  I  confess  that 
I  was  very  much  surprised. 

I  suppose  that  I  am  very  silly  about  tournament 
play — I  am  so  superstitious.  I  make  a  wish  when- 
ever I  see  two  white  horses.  I  had  great  luck  on  the 
night  before  the  finals  of  the  National  Champion- 
ships at  Philadelphia.  I  was  talking  with  Mrs. 
Wightman,  whom  I  was  to  play,  when  I  saw  a  falling 
star.  There  is  nothing  so  lucky  as  wishing  on  a  fall- 
ing star.  I  made  my  wish,  "I  want  to  win  the 
National."  And  I  did. 

Then,  I  have  a  Japanese  brooch  which  I  always 
wear  when  I  play;  it  is  so  ugly  that  I  cannot  wear  it 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

at  any  other  time.  I  am  afraid  to  play  without 
it. 

I  cannot  play  "steady"  tennis;  I  must  try  new 
strokes  and  new  plays  all  the  time,  or  the  game  loses 
interest.  I  often  get  into  trouble  trying  styles 
which  I  do  not  know  much  about.  For  instance,  I 
will  sometimes  practise  them  against  a  weaker 
player,  and  just  manage  to  win,  while  I  will  be  con- 
servative against  a  good  player  and  probably  win 
more  easily.  Then  a  good  player  thinks  that  I  have 
tried  to  make  her  appear  weak,  and  is  correspond- 
ingly cross.  I  do  not  mean  to  make  such  a  com- 
parison— it  is  just  that  I  cannot  help  trying  new 
plays  whenever  I  have  the  chance. 

When  the  outdoor  season  opened  I  entered  nearly 
all  the  tournaments  about  New  York  and  found  that 
I  could  somewhat  more  than  hold  my  own  with  the 
local  players.  Then  I  played  through  the  Nationals 
in  Philadelphia,  winning  in  the  final  from  Mrs. 
George  Wightman  by  two  sets  to  one,  and  again 
beating  her  at  Pittsburg  for  the  Clay  Court  Cham- 


MOSTLY      PERSONA  L 

pionship  by  the  same  number  of  sets.  Mrs.  Wight- 
man  was  by  far  the  best  player  whom  I  had  met  in 
the  United  States  up  to  date.  Between  times  I  won 
the  singles  title  in  the  Metropolitan,  Pelham  Invita- 
tion, Crescent  Athletic  Club  Invitation,  Middle 
States,  Nyack,  Tri-State,  Ohio  State  and  Longwood 
Invitation.  I  lost  at  Orange,  N.  J.,  to  Mrs.  Fred- 
erick Schmitz;  at  Alexandria  Bay,  N.  Y.,  to  Mrs. 
Marshall  McLean,  and  to  Mrs.  George  Wightman  at 
Cedarhurst.  These  were  the  only  matches  I  lost  in 
the  East  during  the  year,  and  I  have  since  beaten  all 
these  players. 

I  think  that  I  am  the  first  girl  to  hold  all  the  na- 
tional titles  for  women  in  singles  in  the  one  year,  but 
it  was  great  fun  getting  them,  and  I  am  afraid  that  I 
cannot  be  very  conceited  about  them. 

I  have  played  more  and  better  tennis  since  coming 
to  America  than  I  ever  played  before.  When  I  came 
here  I  could  drive;  I  knew  nothing  of  the  volley  and 
my  service  was  very  weak.  Some  said  that  my  back- 
hand was  weak,  but  I  think  they  said  that  because 

[173] 


TENNIS      FOR      WOMEN 

my  forehand  was  very  strong;  of  course  my  backhand 
was  not  as  strong  as  my  forehand.  I  practised  my 
backhand  every  day  for  two  weeks  with  the  pro- 
fessional at  the  West  Side  Club.  By  steady  practice 
I  have  learned  something  of  the  volley,  and  in  time  I 
am  going  to  volley  strongly.  As  far  as  my  backhand 
is  concerned,  I  can  only  say  that  Mrs.  Bundy  pre- 
ferred my  forehand  to  my  backhand.  I  never 
expect  to  know  how  to  serve  and  I  do  not  care  to 
know  the  various  cut  strokes  or  services. 

After  the  close  of  the  Eastern  season  I  went  out  to 
California  with  Mrs.  George  Wightman  and  played 
in  a  number  of  special  events.  I  had  three  fine 
matches  with  Mrs.  Thomas  M.  Bundy  of  which  she 
won  two  and  I  won  one.  She  is  the  best  player  that 
I  have  ever  known,  and  has  a  wonderfully  hard  and 
accurate  drive.  She  plays  very  much  the  same  game 
as  I  do,  and  also  has  the  same  tendency  to  drive  her- 
self off  her  feet  with  the  force  of  the  stroke.  I  also 
lost  to  Miss  Anita  Meyers  after  having  won  the  first 
set  6 — o. 

[174] 


MOSTLY      PERSONAL 

The  play  out  in  California  is  not  under  quite  so 
comfortable  conditions  as  in  the  Eastern  clubs,  al- 
though I  had  a  splendid  time.  The  courts  are  all 
asphalt  and  are  very  hard  indeed  on  one's  feet.  But 
it  is  a  delightful  sensation  to  play  in  the  open  air  in 
December. 

My  present  program  is  to  practise  my  profession 
through  half  the  year  and  play  tennis  the  other  half. 
Perhaps  that  is  not  the  most  remunerative  way  of 
living  that  can  be  imagined,  but  it  is  the  most  fun. 


THE    END 


THE   COUNTRY    LIFE   PRESS 
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